Viscount Andrei squeezed through the crowd and saw a large slave market in front of him.
On the edge of the slave market, slave traders were selling from time to time.
He didn't speak Chinese very well, so he listened to it many times before he could barely understand clearly what these businessmen were shouting.
"The strong native laborers only need twenty taels of silver coins.
These people are easy to feed. If you feed them one meal of corn a day, they can work all day and eat less than pigs."
"Take a look at the indigenous women of childbearing age, young and old. If you buy them for thirty-five taels of silver each, you can not only give birth to children, but also do farm work.
Life is complete only when you have a family. Everyone comes to Nanyang to seek life, but it is difficult to find a wife locally. Don't miss this opportunity."
Viscount Andre visited the slave market. He looked at the slave traders in Dahua and kept shaking his head.
These people simply don't understand how to trade slaves in order to maximize their profits.
These slaves were well fed, and some slaves were still roaring in unknown languages.
The slave merchants fed the slaves too much. After the slaves were full, they still had the strength to resist.
There are other businesses that United Kingdom businessmen may not be good at.
In the slave trade business, United Kingdom merchants were among the best in Europe.
As long as the price of slaves is right, selling slaves to Dahua is also a good business.
Viscount Andre saw that most of these slaves were indigenous slaves from Southeast Asia.
He asked Lu Ping'an and said, "Mr. Lu, I saw that the slave market only had indigenous slaves.
Are you Chinese still picky about the nationality of your slaves? Can other slaves be sold at a higher price here?"
When Lu Ping'an heard Andre ask this question, he simply replied: "Sir Viscount, young and strong male slaves are generally allowed to engage in heavy physical labor, and only their health conditions are required.
But it is difficult for male slaves who look very different from us Han people to integrate into our society.
We have a small requirement, these slaves must be castrated slaves.
Depending on the health of these slaves, the price is generally around thirty taels of silver coins.
Today is not a day for exchanges between chambers of commerce. There are all small slave traders here now.
They sell slaves to retail investors, and the price is relatively cheap. The slaves either have strong resistance or have some minor problems."
Lu Ping'an serves in the Military Intelligence Bureau, and he knows the reasons why he must castrate his efforts.
These people are now slaves. After two or three generations, they will be assimilated and become part of the country.
The assimilation process is extremely difficult if the looks are too different, and it is even difficult to assimilate.
The state only treats them as disposable commodities and requires these slaves to be castrated.
This is a valuable experience they learned from the Spanish when they maintained close communication with them.
Viscount Andre listened to Lu Ping'an's statement and pondered the cost in his mind.
When they brought black people from Africa, they had to ask for castrated black people.
About half of the slaves would die during transportation, and their bodies would become extremely weak.
If slaves are castrated after coming to Dahua, the weak slaves will die at least 20 to 30% more.
Taking into account all costs, the value of black slaves transported to America is higher, and the cost of transporting them to Dahua is too high.
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Unless it is transporting other goods, the ship has empty warehouses and can capture some slaves.
The United Kingdom seems unable to handle the big business of slave trading.
Lu Pingan continued: "Compared to men, young women are worth more, and the price is generally around forty taels of silver coins.
The price in mainland China is lower, but the price in Nanyang is very high.
The ratio of men to women here in Nanyang is extremely disparate. From what I read in the newspaper, excluding men and women who are already married, the ratio of unmarried men to women of the right age is as high as eight to one.
In China's rural areas, nearly half of the men were single before.
Now these men have responded to the imperial court's call and settled in remote areas such as Nanyang, where the government has promised to solve the problem of marrying wives for them.
After working in Nanyang for several years, these men can save dozens of taels of silver coins, and with government subsidies, they can afford to buy women.
Women are more popular in the slave market."
When Viscount Andre heard what Lu Pingan said, he thought of a poem he had learned a few days ago.
The mountains and rivers are full of doubts and there is no way out, and the willows are dark and the flowers are bright and spring is coming again.
The high value of women in the slave market was worthy of the United Kingdom's slave traders.
Women and children, whose value was extremely low in the slave markets of Europe and America, became even more valuable here in the East.
Viscount Andre took out his notebook and walked to the slave market. He paid attention to which slaves were welcomed by the market.
He saw that there were slave traders from all over the world. For women, those with yellow skin similar to those of the Han people were of the highest value.
The Eastern European Caucasians sold by Arab merchants have a slightly lower value, but they still maintain a high price of thirty taels of silver coins.
He observed a European merchant selling black people.
Men do need to be castrated, but the price is not much different from other slaves.
Even if the black woman in Africa is reduced to five taels of silver coins, no one will buy it. This product is completely unsaleable.
This European slave trader had a bitter look on his face. He must have suffered a terrible loss.
Viscount Andrei recorded the situation related to the sale of slaves. He felt that every word in his notes was worth thousands of gold.
There were frequent wars in Europe, and many people were displaced.
The Indian tribes in America resisted extremely fiercely and could only be wiped out before. Now these people have new uses.
There are also people from Northern Ireland who resisted the rule of the United Kingdom, and they also have a new destination.
Viscount Andrei thought about the source of the large number of slaves, and a smile appeared on his face.
They stayed overnight in Danmaxixicheng. Early the next morning, they immediately took a boat to the mainland of the Dahua Dynasty.
Viscount Andre stood on the deck and watched the rough waves on the ocean. From time to time, warships patrolled the sea to maintain the safety of the route.
Patrol warships will board the ship from time to time to inspect passing ships.
Andre's fleet was accompanied by Dahua Navy warships, and there were no patrol warships to check them.
Viscount Andre looked at the sea. Who could have expected that such a vast ocean would turn out to be the inland sea of the Great China Dynasty.
The strength of the Great China Dynasty at sea was revealed inadvertently.
Without a strong navy, there was no way to maintain colonies far from home.
Viscount Andre counted each day.
He discovered a miraculous situation. After they set off from Lofo City and sailed on the sea for many days, no one died from the demonic disease.
The chaplains in the fleet all felt that this phenomenon was magical.
Some people say it’s the Lord’s blessing, others say it’s the climate.
Viscount Andre thought things would not be that simple.
Before he could observe the results, the fleet arrived at the mainland of the Great China Dynasty, Guangzhou City, the largest city in the south.
Only then did he truly see the prosperity of the Great China Dynasty.
Guangzhou is a big city with a population of three million.
Viscount Andrei couldn't even imagine how three million people could live in one city.
Viscount Andre saw many strange sights in Guangzhou.
The whole city was filled with black smoke. It was the first time he had seen such a strange sight.
A large number of factories in the city used steam engines, allowing him to see how far the power of coal and iron could reach.
Viscount Andre, led by Lu Pingan, visited Guangzhou Industrial Zone.
He saw the neatly arranged steam engines in the textile factory, which could weave several meters of cotton cloth in one breath.
The loom driven by the steam engine weaves extremely fast.
The output of a large textile factory in one month is more than the output of the entire London in a year.
Viscount Andre saw this situation, and then he understood why the cotton cloth of the Dahua Dynasty was so cheap.
With such high production efficiency, the cost of weaving a piece of cloth in the factory is extremely low.
Even if these cotton cloths are shipped to London, the price will be lower than local cloth in London.
The goods produced by their handicraft industry cannot compete with the goods produced by machines.
When Viscount Andre saw the cheap cotton, ironware and other commodities, he wanted to purchase them in large quantities and ship them back to Europe.
The value these things bring is far more than porcelain and tea.
But most of the money in Viscount Andre's hands does not belong to him, but is money jointly invested by the great nobles of the United Kingdom.
He had no choice but to purchase large quantities of porcelain, tea, and silk to ship back to the United Kingdom.
Viscount Andre will try his best to choose cheaper products. The price difference of the products lower than the price of the big nobles is the commission he can earn this time.
Viscount Andrei chose to come to the East, except for the Prime Minister's order, which required him to come.
He could earn a large amount of silver from trade with the East, which was also his most important motivation.
Viscount Andre contacted many businessmen in Guangzhou to inquire about the prices of porcelain, tea and silk.
He finally found a businessman named Wei Shuwen from the Guangdong Chamber of Commerce. The price proposed by this businessman was most in line with Viscount Andre's wishes.
After inspecting the goods, he paid a deposit and asked Wei Shuwen to prepare the goods under the witness of the local government.
After Wei Shuwen signed the agreement, he said with a smile: "Mr. Andre, if you can do business with us in Dahua, you will make a profit.
When you come to do business with us, you have no fear of being cheated.
The government provides credibility guarantees for us businessmen.
If I really run away, take this agreement to the Guangdong Governor's Yamen, and the government will compensate you for the deposit as usual."
Viscount Andre learned about this trading procedure for the first time, and he was also very shocked.
When European merchants trade with strangers, they basically pay the money and deliver the goods.
This was the first time he had encountered a local government guaranteeing merchants' transactions.
He consulted many businessmen from Europe and found out that the government's guarantee was indeed true. Many businessmen who had been defrauded wanted their money back from the government.
Most of these merchants were Spanish merchants, after the conflict between the Spanish Kingdom and the Great China Dynasty.
In order to earn huge profits, they came to Dahua to do business under the flags of other countries.
Viscount Andre also learned that at the beginning, there were only Dutch, Portuguese and Spanish people around Dahua.
The Dahua Dynasty only established diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Spain, and the cities of the Dahua Dynasty were only open to Spanish merchants.
As the Dahua Dynasty gradually opened up to the outside world, more and more European businessmen went to Guangzhou and other places to do business.
The Dahua Dynasty adjusts its relevant strategies in a timely manner. As long as businessmen from hostile countries are not involved, they can come to the Dahua Dynasty to do business.
Viscount Andre's transformation from the Dahua Dynasty showed that the Dahua Dynasty was more confident.
He looked at Wei Shuwen and said: "Mr. Wei, you need six months to prepare the goods. We will come here again in six months to settle the balance.
I am an envoy of the United Kingdom, and I may not be able to get away, so I will ask my subordinates to come with an agreement to trade."
Wei Shuwen nodded and said: "Our chamber of commerce only recognizes the agreement and not the person. As long as someone pays the balance with the agreement, I will trade the goods to that person.
It will take me six months to raise all the Yungui tea and Jingdezhen porcelain you ordered.
Especially Jingdezhen porcelain is in short supply now, and we need to wait for the new kiln to open.
Silk is kept in large stocks and can be traded at any time."
Viscount Andre asked curiously: "You Han people sell tea, silk, and porcelain everywhere, so you are not afraid that others will learn your skills and compete with you for business."
Wei Shuwen said with a smile: "We are not worried, tea can be grown wherever the temperature is suitable.
Silk requires mulberry trees and silkworm seeds, as well as extremely complex craftsmanship, and you are not afraid of others stealing the technology.
It is impossible for others to imitate porcelain. In addition to the corresponding technical inheritance, the production location is the greatest protection.
The best porcelain can only be made using the soil of Jingdezhen.
Even if the same technology is used with soil from other places, the quality of the porcelain will decline."
Viscount Andrei talked with businessman Wei Shuwen, and he learned about the situation of Han porcelain, tea, and silk.
These products have a strong imprint of civilization and cannot be easily counterfeited by others.
Viscount Andre's material procurement is over, and he can concentrate on heading to the capital of the Great China Dynasty.
The fleet departed from Guangzhou and followed the wind to the largest port in northern China.
Along the way, they could see many passenger and cargo ships traveling on busy routes.
Viscount Andre looked at these ships and found that half of them were emitting billowing black smoke.
These were steam-powered paddle steamers.
The huge steel paddle wheel beats on the sea, and the speed of the ship is much faster than that of a sailboat.
Lu Ping'an stood on the deck and sighed: "Now sea transportation has replaced inland water transportation and has become the new artery of the imperial court.
In the past, the transportation of goods from the south to the north mainly relied on the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.
I read this newspaper that the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal will be closed to navigation to clear the river sand, which was unimaginable before."
Viscount Andre heard Lu Ping'an's emotion and learned about the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.
After listening to Lu Pingan's story, he widened his eyes and said in disbelief: "How is that possible? You here dug an artificial canal connecting the north and the south hundreds of years ago."
Viscount Andre was so shocked that he could not imagine that humans could achieve such a great project.
"Canal, canal!"
Viscount Andrei was talking about the canal. He immediately took out his notes and wrote down his thoughts at this moment.
If a canal could be dug to connect the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, Europe could save at least several months in traveling to the East.
When Viscount Andrei thought about the Ottoman Turkish Empire spanning Asia and Africa, he felt that his idea was a fantasy.
Which country in Europe has the ability to dig a grand canal in the Ottoman Turkish Empire?
He no longer thought about such unrealistic things, the fleet was about to arrive in the capital.
Viscount Andre kept thinking about how to persuade the Emperor of the Chinese Dynasty to allow the two countries to establish diplomatic relations and conduct normal trade.
Along the way, he saw the power of the Great China Dynasty.
If the United Kingdom can trade with the Great China Dynasty, the strength of the United Kingdom will definitely take off.