Watching Ye Ye exit, Li Luoyou calculated that in Dengzhou he kept one thousand kilograms of red ginseng and several hundred kilograms of deer antlers recently shipped from Liaodong, which were worth more than ten thousand taels of silver - so
With Yang Run's strength, it would not be a problem to eat them all. But with so many red ginsengs on the market in Foshan at once, I'm afraid it might cause trouble.
Suddenly he remembered something, pulled out a key from his waist, and opened the lock on a cabinet door. He found an "account book" from inside. The account book only had "Foshan Town" on the woolen blue cloth cover.
Three characters, below is the year number: Revised in the first year of Chongzhen.
This is a "favor account", which lists in detail all the public and private people in Foshan town who need to be socialized. It includes family members, addresses, personal preferences and other details. Some particularly important people even include their deceased elders.
The anniversary of his death was clearly recorded. There was also a record of every gift given in the past. He turned to the entry of "Lin Ming". Lin Ming's whole family was listed one by one, and everyone's birthday was noted below.
Mrs. Lin's birthday is just three days later.
Lin Baihu, the local Jinyiwei Baihu Institute, is easy to talk to and has social contacts with him on weekdays. As long as he pretends not to know, no one in Foshan will say anything about it.
"It's just the right time." Li Luoyou nodded and closed the ledger.
The relationship between Lin Ming and him couldn't be said to be very familiar. In addition to the usual three gifts, suddenly giving a large gift was too revealing. Mrs. Lin's birthday was a good opportunity to give extra gifts.
The gift must be expensive and please Mrs. Lin, otherwise just give it a few hundred taels of silver. Although the money is good, it means nothing to Mrs. Lin. Once a woman feels that she is not valued, blowing pillows on the bed is the same.
It's very powerful, not to mention that Mrs. Lin is said to be extremely favored and more lethal. So giving gifts is a complicated matter.
He opened the hidden lock on a large cupboard in the study, and inside there were layers of various boxes: brocade ones, mother-of-pearl boxes, red ones... and so on, all filled with valuable gifts, specially used for social occasions.
Important people.
Right now, what women like most and want most is an Australian goose egg mirror from Guangzhou Zizhenzhai.
He had been to Zizhenzhai once and was startled by the giant glass mirror inside as soon as he entered the door. Li Luoyou had seen glass mirrors in Macau before. But such a huge and smooth mirror, even the Portuguese in Macau
People were amazed when they saw it, saying that it was impossible to make such a huge piece of glass.
Not only mirrors, the items sold by Zizhenzhai are novel. Many of them have never been seen in the local area. It’s fine if they have never been seen in the local area. Li Luoyu often travels to Macau and is quite familiar with the red-haired people.
I have never seen any experienced businessmen.
For the convenience of giving gifts, Li Luoyou purchased many novel gadgets in Zizhenzhai and stored them in several places for easy access at any time.
At that moment, I picked up a goose egg mirror from Zizhenzhai; a box of distilled herbal perfume in twelve-color glass bottles; a box of lipstick sticks with silver holders, and finally a box of pearls. This was not from Zizhenzhai, but
It is the real "Eastern Pearl" - Liaodong's pearls are famous for their large and round shape, far better than the "Hepu Pearl" that is nearly exhausted in Guangdong. It is also the goods he often traffics;
The preparation for Lin Baihu was much simpler. I prepared a newly issued two hundred taels of money order from Delong Bank that can be cashed on sight. This thing is really convenient to use. At least you don’t have to openly hold the box when giving gifts or bribes.
.
Of course Li Luoyou knew that this was not Delong's invention. "Flying money" existed in the Tang Dynasty. He had also seen Brahmin businessmen and Portuguese businessmen in Macau using money orders. This kind of money order was simply a money order. But he had never known it.
I never thought that this system would be introduced into the Ming Dynasty. I didn’t expect that Delong actually introduced it and made it happen in this area. Of course, this has nothing to do with Guo Yi, the big boss of Zizhenzhai, and the Gao family in Guangzhou.
It is inseparable from the strong support of the two companies - he very much doubts that the so-called Delong is the boss behind these two companies.
After dinner, Li Luoyou invited two foreigners to a secret meeting in the study.
"Come, let's have a drink and talk while drinking." He took out three wine glasses and a black wine bottle from the cabinet. This is wine shipped all the way from Europe. Li Luoyou doesn't like this kind of sour wine very much.
It smells like alcohol, and I don’t like drinking it dry without any appetizers. It’s purely for decoration when entertaining foreign guests.
"Thank you, you always have unexpected good things here." Quark smiled happily. This British businessman was poor and rich, and when he was down and out, he often had meals at Li Luoyu's mansion in Macau.
"Thank you." Ma Yangchun's eyes lit up when he saw the wine. He had been in Macau for more than three years and could already speak Mandarin very well. He was also familiar with Li Luoyou. But at the beginning, he was a shunned person among the Jesuits in Macau.
Character - This man always exudes a stink like a beast, and even his colleagues can't stand it. It is said that this German is extremely reluctant to take a bath and drinks without restraint. This makes the president very troubled.
.
However, under the careful training of the Italians, this rude German priest has become much more civilized. At least he knows how to bathe and change clothes frequently. He originally had a big beard, but in order to facilitate his preaching, he has shaved it off, making him look young.
A lot.
"Li, is there a 'Princess of the Tang Dynasty' here?"
"No, this is Zichengji's export product. I don't have it here." Li Luoyou smiled. The bitter taste of rhubarb from Princess Tang was really intolerable.
"Here, let's have a drink first."
The three of them drank the wine in the glasses. Li Luoyou poured it for them, and then they started to get to the point.
This time he brought two foreigners to Foshan for two things. One was to see if they could open a missionary base in Foshan. Li Luoyou was a Catholic - his father was baptized when he went to Macau for business in his early years.
Li Luoyou lived with his father in Xiangshan Ao until he became an adult. When he was a boy, he studied with the priest in the church. He was not very interested in things like doctrine, but he was quite interested in European natural science and mathematics, algebra, and planes.
He is a good student of solid geometry and solid geometry. He is one of the very few people in this time and space who has mastered Western mathematics.
As one of the few Catholics in the Ming Dynasty, Li Luoyou had the unshirkable responsibility to spread the gospel. He traveled between Macau and Guangzhou many times, picking up missionaries entering and leaving the country, transporting religious books, and cultivating believers among his own servants. Of course.
His active activities were not all motivated by religious fervor; the Jesuits also played a vital role in his business.
Secondly, they planned to open a foundry in Foshan to manufacture Western cannons and muskets. After the victory of Ningjin, the imperial court's interest in Western firearms surged. In the first month of this year, the imperial court accepted Xu Guangqi's suggestion and ordered Li Fengjie, governor of Guangdong, to visit Guangdong and Guangxi.
Governor Wang Zunde asked Portuguese merchants to purchase Western cannons. The Portuguese immediately donated ten cannons and a number of matchlocks. Several gunners were led by Portuguese officers and a missionary to escort the cannons. This was transported by Zhang Tao and Sun Xueshi during the Tianqi period.
This was the second large-scale purchase and transportation of Western artillery to Beijing after the artillery was brought to Beijing.
Li Luoyou read Xu Guangqi's memorial from his residence. He and Xu Guangqi were not acquainted, but they were both Catholics and had a strong interest in Western military science and technology. He was dissatisfied with the imitation proposed by Xu Guangqi in the memorial.
Western artillery, the policy of "training elite soldiers to become sharp weapons" is simply supported by both hands - Li Luoyou has been doing business in Liaodong for many years, and he saw the withdrawal of Guangning town with his own eyes. What kind of "frontier troops" rely on the imperial court to rely on the Great Wall?
The status is clear. This kind of army, which is weak, poorly trained and has low morale, is no match for the Hou Jin soldiers.
The imperial court's demand for Western firearms increased, which was a huge business opportunity for Li Luoyu. In addition to business opportunities, he also held the idea of refreshing weapons for the imperial army and improving combat effectiveness to serve the country loyally. Many people in officialdom today
Regarding gunpowder and firearms as a stepping stone to the official career, articles, treatises, and memorials on various gunpowder formulas, firearms, and artillery techniques are everywhere. For Li Luoyou, who does not know much about firearms, but knows a little bit about Western technology.
, the many errors in it made him heartbroken - this was going to harm the country. He decided: Rather than letting people who don't know how to use firearms as their promotion talisman, it would be better to handle it himself.
Li Luoyu estimated that the imperial court would not purchase too many cannons from Macau and would soon enter the imitation stage. He knew very well that the Portuguese foundry in Macau had limited production capacity and a serious shortage of skilled foundry craftsmen. He
I also know that the Macau City Council passed a resolution requiring that Chinese foundry craftsmen be lured to Macau as much as possible to work in casting iron cannons. The thirty so-called red barbarian cannons purchased during the Tianqi period were basically scrapped from stranded British East India Company ships.
The naval guns that came down - the court was unclear about this matter, but that didn't mean that Li Luoyou was unclear about it.
In terms of cost, it is naturally cheaper to make it domestically, and the imperial court also felt that it was more reliable to leave this "military weapon" to the people of the imperial court than to those foreigners with high noses and deep intentions.
There are many factories in Foshan that cast cannons for the imperial court. But none of them understands the main gun technology of Western cannons. Li Luoyou doesn't understand either, but he has the support of the Jesuits, and he recruits professional cannons from Macau and Goa.
Craftsmen are not a problem. Furthermore, he also has the Englishman Quark at his disposal. If necessary, he can let him find the East India Company as a channel.
"Of course I agree with the proposal to open a foundry in Foshan." Ma Yangchun said. This German was wearing Ming Dynasty clothes and a turban. "The president has told me that firearms are the most important thing for the Ming Dynasty. As long as this is done here,
If the needs of the emperor and officials are met, our spread of the gospel will become more successful."
"Father is right," Li Luoyou said, "This is how Father Lu and Father Tang got into the capital."