On the Lantern Festival, the 15th day of the first lunar month, Xu Changlin had a reunion dinner with his wife and children at home.
Every time he goes to sea, he treats it as his last.
The benefits of sea trade are huge. As long as you dare to fight hard, many people will be like Xu Changlin, who earned a net worth of hundreds of thousands taels from a young boy who sold himself.
But Xu Changlin saw more people who left and never came back due to various reasons.
Before the Royal Navy of the Great China Empire defeated the European powers, the main reasons for loss of life were robbery and shipwrecks.
Nowadays, there are very few cases of plundering the merchant ships of the Great China Empire. The main causes of death for these merchants are shipwrecks and diseases.
Early in the morning on the 16th day of the first lunar month, Xu Changlin packed his things and took a car to the dock.
He arrived on his cargo ship, and the company's attendants also arrived one after another.
Nowadays, the geographical factors of business are very strong.
Even if they are members of the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce, they will find it difficult to do business in Tianjin.
If Xu Changlin joins the Hebei Chamber of Commerce, he will be able to use the channels of the Chamber of Commerce to connect the goods shipped to sea and the sailors and other talents he needs.
The artillery and shells for armed merchant ships are purchased through the channels of the Chamber of Commerce.
A small businessman like him cannot buy arms by relying solely on his own abilities.
Most of the people from the Changlin Chamber of Commerce are from Tianjin. They are very close to the port and will be able to meet the fleet soon.
A few people, including Baoding and a few other big cities in Hebei Province, can reach Tianjin by train, which only takes a few hours.
At noon, everyone from the Changlin Chamber of Commerce rushed to the dock.
When Xu Changlin saw them, he immediately said encouragingly: "Happy New Year to everyone, everyone will get a New Year red envelope of ten silver coins, don't be too little."
The sailors from the Chamber of Commerce smiled and accepted the red envelope. Ten silver coins was already a lot.
The cheapest multigrain flour now costs four cents per pound.
The grain flour purchased for one tael of silver coins is enough to feed a poor family for a year.
One or two silver coins can buy a pretty girl at the Quai de France.
After Xu Changlin handed out the red envelope, he said: "We are all old friends, so I won't say anything unnecessary.
Everyone knows who I am, and if I make money, I won’t treat everyone badly.
As long as you can return to Hong Kong safely, in addition to your salary, you will also receive a generous bonus.
Everyone, please pay attention to safety, I don’t want this bonus to turn into settlement expenses.”
Xu Changlin and the storekeepers of each ship counted the goods in the warehouse.
The sailors began to maintain the ship, mainly checking the mast and sails.
All the ships owned by the Changlin Chamber of Commerce are sailing cargo ships.
The introduction of large-scale cargo ships with steam engines and propellers into the market directly caused the price of sailing cargo ships to drop.
It is precisely because these cargo ships are all sailing cargo ships and have extremely high requirements for offshore wind direction.
Xu Changlin immediately chose to go to sea shortly after the Lantern Festival.
The timing of going to sea must be grasped to ensure a smooth journey.
Xu Changlin saw a man who was slightly smaller than him and rushed to the fleet in a small boat.
He immediately greeted me with a smile on his face and said, "Steward Zhang is a rare visitor. May I ask what Butler Zhu has given me?"
This man was Zhang Fu, the chief steward of the merchants in Hebei, and also the merchant they followed.
The Zhang family's team is large and protected by large armed merchant ships, so there is no problem with their safety.
If the Zhang family hadn't competed for the position of president of the Hebei Chamber of Commerce, they would have wanted to become a member of the Hebei Provincial Assembly.
Nor are they going to France with a bunch of tankers.
This will slow down the fleet and take at least ten days longer than setting off alone.
Zhang Fu asked: "The eldest son has decided that all the teams will set off at two o'clock in the afternoon. Does Mr. Xu have any questions?"
Xu Changlin cupped his hands and replied: "Please rest assured, Mr. Zhang, that the Changlin Chamber of Commerce is ready and will not delay Mr. Zhang's time."
Zhang Fu returned the gift with satisfaction, and continued to other chambers of commerce to inform them of the departure.
Xu Changlin asked everyone in the Chamber of Commerce to prepare for departure, and he waited for news of departure.
The time soon reached two o'clock in the afternoon.
When Xu Changlin heard the Zhang family's fleet, they sounded the air whistles one after another.
He immediately issued an order: "All ships raise sails and set off!"
The Changlin Chamber of Commerce's cargo ship sailed out of the port with the Zhang family team in the previously determined order.
…………………………
Butler Zhang Fu took a boat and arrived near the Changlin Chamber of Commerce.
The guy next to him shouted: "Our wireless telegraph machine has received a weather forecast near the Strait of Malacca.
A typhoon headed straight for the Strait of Malacca, causing the Strait of Malacca to be blocked.
The fleet needs to detour around the Nanyang Islands to avoid the typhoon."
When Xu Changlin heard the shouting, he immediately clasped his fists and thanked him: "Butler Zhang Fu, you have worked hard."
He knew about the wireless telegraph machine carried by the Zhang family and made a great contribution.
The Strait of Malacca is about to usher in a typhoon passing through, once the fleet is affected by the typhoon.
Except for some cargo ships with huge tonnage, other cargo ships can easily capsize in the sea.
Many people spend most of their wealth to buy supplies and go to France.
Even if you have insurance, you will suffer a loss of reputation if you are unable to deliver on time.
Once there are casualties due to a typhoon, it is a loss that cannot be recovered no matter how much money you pay.
All fleets were diverted to pass through the Strait of Malacca.
Some heads of chambers of commerce still have some complaints because of the team's diversion.
The Zhang family has already spread the word. Through their wireless telegraph machine, they have received news that a strong typhoon passed through Nanyang and caused heavy losses.
Weather forecast is a service provided by the prince and represents the face of the empire.
Everyone should be lucky to have weather forecast, which can prevent many avoidable losses.
Some people don't believe what the Zhang family says and think they are spreading false news.
But when they passed by the north of the Nanyang Islands, they stopped at the shore to buy some newspapers.
I found newspapers reporting that a strong typhoon passed through Nanyang and caused heavy losses.
Three 10,000-ton cargo ships sank in the Strait of Malacca, causing congestion in the waterway. It will take more than ten days to completely clear the channel.
As soon as the news came out, all those who doubted it shut up.
Everyone praises the power of weather forecasting.
Only this early warning weather forecast saved the entire team from great losses.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Zhang Yaohui, the eldest son of the Zhang family, celebrated the success of the fleet in avoiding disaster.
He invited all the heads of the chamber of commerce to have a gathering on the Zhang family's merchant ship.
Xu Changlin passed the boat and boarded the Zhang family's cargo ship.
He saw this 10,000-ton cargo ship built of steel.
The deck is very wide and there is no need to store cargo on it.
This cargo ship is very stable on the rough sea.
When Xu Changlin saw the cargo ship, he was very envious, but he really couldn't afford it.
This cargo ship costs hundreds of thousands of taels of silver coins, and he can't even buy half of it with all his wealth.
But as long as this trade goes smoothly, he can order a cargo ship like this when he goes back.
The benefits of sea trade are so rich. Only such rich benefits can enable many people like him to not be afraid of death and risk their own lives one after another to sell goods to Europe thousands of miles away.
When Niu Yousen saw his friend's expression, he also said with envy: "Envy it! Who wouldn't envy it? It's just that it's too expensive.
We can wait a moment, who can say for sure the price of this kind of cargo ship.
We didn’t think before that we would never be able to afford a sailing cargo ship in our lifetime.”
They chatted and came to the restaurant where the banquet was held.
When Zhang Yaohui saw everyone seated, he raised his glass and toasted to everyone.
"Hello uncles and uncles, I am your junior, please bear with me if there is anything wrong with me.
On behalf of the Zhang family, I promise to protect everyone's safe arrival in France and lead everyone back to the imperial port safely.
Please vote for my father when the Chamber of Commerce elects its president at the end of this year."
Xu Changlin and others immediately promised again and again that they would definitely vote for the head of the Zhang family.
They followed the Zhang family and in the eyes of other people in the chamber of commerce, they were considered people close to the Zhang family.
At first everyone was a little cautious, but after a few glasses of wine, many people relaxed.
Niu Yousen said helplessly: "It is really difficult for us northerners to compete with the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce.
The distance is thousands of kilometers longer, the price is about the same, and it is simply not competitive in Europe.
I have to consider whether to take the American route.
There is a shortage of everything in the Americas, and the unit price is not as high as in Europe, but if you choose to go in volume, you will still earn a lot.”
Xu Changlin echoed: "Our costs are indeed high, that's why I choose medicines and aluminum appliances.
For some common commodities, we can no longer compete with merchants from the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce.
They can take advantage of the short distance and each product is a few silver coins cheaper than ours, which will cause our products to be unsaleable.
But they didn't have many good days either.
Once the Indian region develops, it will especially be connected to the inland industrial cities by train.
Relying on the advantages of train-linked sea transportation, it will inevitably squeeze the living space of the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce."
Zhang Yaohui was toasting everyone at the table when he heard Xu Changlin's statement.
He asked happily: "Is India so advantageous? Then we can go to India to build a factory.
The imperial cabinet issued many discounts, and the governors of the Indian provinces provided even greater discounts.
The Indus River region closest to Europe is rich in various resources, and the most important thing is that it is tax-free.
All taxes and duties required for production are fully exempted, and the exemption ranges from three to five years depending on the size of the factory.
It’s a huge advantage for us to build a factory in India!”
"Yes! The advantages are huge."
Xu Changlin agreed on the surface, but he secretly guessed that the eldest son of the Zhang family might have to pay tuition.
Not everyone can understand a new thing like a factory.
Xu Changlin has seen many friends who have incurred huge debts due to building factories.
He did not question it face to face because his identity was completely different from that of the eldest son of the Zhang family.
Xu Changlin's life experience has no reference value for the eldest son of the Zhang family.
He had read his son's primary school textbook and there was a story about a pony crossing the river, which was very well told.
No matter what anyone says, these days we have to test the depth of the river.
The Zhang family has a rich heritage. The eldest son can fail hundreds of times, but as long as he succeeds once, he will be considered successful.
People like Xu Changlin don't have that much capital. As long as he fails once, he will be unable to recover.
After the banquet, many people were curious about what a wireless telegraph machine looked like.
Zhang Yaohui led everyone to the tightly guarded telegraph room on the ship.
Everyone observed the situation in the telegraph room through a glass door.
Xu Changlin saw a telegraph machine one meter long and half a meter wide, with flashing traffic lights on it.
A copper wire as thick as a thumb was stretched along the wall of the window to the top of the chimney.
There were five staff members in the telegraph room. They listened to the ticking sound of the telegraph machine and kept recording the contents on paper.
Zhang Yaohui pointed to the telegraph machine in front and said: "The wireless telegraph machine has been a great help to the fleet.
It's money well spent.
I use the telegraph every day to report to my old man that everything is safe.
If you want to report to your family that you are safe, you can also send it through the telegraph machine.
The local telegraph office will charge your family a certain fee when sending telegrams."
Zhang Yaohui was very satisfied with the telegraph machine. This time, his father could rest assured that he would go overseas and concentrate on dealing with the competition within the chamber of commerce.
This is also closely related to the emergence of the telegraph.
He can guide his son to do things remotely without having to go overseas in person.
When everyone heard Zhang Yaohui's gift, smiles appeared on their faces.
He immediately took the pen and paper handed over by the clerk and wrote the contents of the telegram, mainly to report that he was safe.
Everyone looked at themselves and sent the news of safety, thousands of miles away.
They didn't know that these telegrams had to go through many relays.
When they looked at the telegraph machine, they felt that this machine was very magical.
After the Zhang family hosted a banquet for many ship owners, the barriers between them completely disappeared.
Zhang Yaohui used the excuse of receiving important telegrams to discuss matters with other ship owners many times, deepening their relationship.
Xu Changlin learned that weather forecasts also have many limitations.
The more densely populated the place, the more accurate the weather forecast.
On the sea, in most cases, the accuracy of weather forecasts is not high.
But the wireless telegraph machine still performed very well.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! In particular, Zhang Yaohui gradually understood the wireless telegraph machine and discovered that he could communicate with other fleets.
In this way, as long as the two fleets have a good relationship, they can know the situation of the route ahead in advance.
Xu Changlin looked at the telegraph machine in a daze. He knew that the day when prices in France would be known in real time would not be too far away for them.
He looked forward to that day, which would allow him to prepare scarce local commodities in time.
It's not just good things like this, there are also some bad things that happened in wireless telegraphy.
The fleet was hijacked by pirates. If the pirates didn't know the telegraph machine, they wouldn't be able to send a telegram asking for help.
Some fleets also sent telegrams warning that there were problems with passage through the Suez Canal.
They came to Zhang's boat to discuss whether the Suez Canal was impassable and whether they should wait or take a detour.
Zhang Yaohui took the telegram handed over by Butler Zhang Fu. When he saw the content, he looked at everyone with a smile and said:
"Everyone knew the day before yesterday that there was a small problem in the Suez Canal, and everyone has been worried about whether the Suez Canal can be opened to normal navigation.
There is no problem with our steam cargo ships, but it will be much more difficult for sail cargo ships to take the African route because the wind direction is wrong.
The latest cables have shown that the navigation of the Suez Canal is going smoothly.
However, due to the blockage of the channel, the Suez Canal Management Company decided to dredge the channel.
There is also good news that the fleet was hijacked by pirates because the message was sent instantly through the telegraph machine.
The Royal Navy patrolling nearby had followed the instructions of the telegram and wiped out all the pirates.
The waterway will be safer and there will be no need to worry about pirates."
When Xu Changlin and others heard the good news, they all smiled.
They can also see from these things that the telegraph machine is extremely useful.
Xu Changlin has decided that as long as the price of the telegraph machine can be reduced to a level that he accepts, he will definitely buy a telegraph machine.