"It seems that we have to go to Lingao once." Li Luoyou put down the letter in his hand and seemed to be talking to himself.
The people standing next to him were silent. Li Luoyou seemed to have been obsessed with this place "Lingao" since he last went to Foshan.
His staff didn't quite understand why his shopkeeper suddenly became interested in this small county that even people in Guangdong Province knew very little about. Only a few close associates knew that shopkeeper Li believed that the best seller in the market in Guangzhou was now
The source of Australian products is in Lingao.
As a businessman, he is far more sensitive to this kind of thing than others. Recently, more and more unprecedented products have appeared on the market in Guangzhou, all of which are wholesaled from Zichengji in Guangzhou.
. And Zichengji is a trading company that sells Australian products.
Li Luoyou was very concerned about Australian products. He sent a special person to inspect Zichengji and Zizhenzhai every day. When he saw new products, he immediately bought them back. From rare treasures to worthless candies and pickles.
Now he has a special room in his main locker room, which displays all Australian products available in the market.
He discovered that: unlike the previous Australian products which were all exquisite and expensive luxury goods, the Australian products recently wholesaled by Zichengji were all practical consumer items produced by Nissan. The items were as exquisite and useful as ever, but the prices were much more approachable.
People from well-off families can afford it.
A pack of 12 sewing needles packaged in a bamboo tube not only has a good steel mouth, but also has no burrs on the nose of the needle body; the "MSG" that is packed in a porcelain bottle and sealed with wax can be magically added to the dishes.
Incomparably fresh; the colorful transparent hard candies are not only colorful and beautiful in shape, but also taste like various fruits in your mouth; the thick "towel" full of coils is soft, comfortable and special when you wipe your face
It absorbs water much better than a bare wash cloth; I don’t know what material is used to make it into thin, soft and breathable socks; I don’t need a flint, a small wooden stick that can light a fire just by scratching it anywhere... Finally, it is snow-white and smooth.
Paper, Li Luoyou has never seen such white paper. The best rice paper from Jinyu, if you look carefully, it is still slightly yellowish, but this kind of paper is completely pure white, just like winter snowflakes. As for the paper surface
The level of smoothness is something Li Luoyou has never seen before.
Of course, when it comes to white paper, the large white paper used for paper in the capital can be considered very white, but this kind of paper is made from earthen paper and brushed with a layer of white soil. It cannot be used for writing, and the surface is also very rough. It is no different from Australian white paper.
The difference between cloud and mud.
What surprised him even more was that after buying a thick stack of paper and randomly pulling out a piece of paper, the quality was exactly the same, with almost no flaws. No matter how many pieces he bought, it was the same.
He noticed this phenomenon on all Australian products. He randomly took out one sewing needle from two packs and found that its length, gloss, and thickness were exactly the same.
Not only can it be made well, but the quality is consistent. This is the great thing about Australian products. The last point is even more terrifying, and that is its price.
The Australian products recently sold by Zichengji are still expensive in terms of price, but when compared with similar products originally sold locally, the huge advantage in price can be seen.
The price of the Australian paper sold by Zichengji is almost the same as that of the cheapest local account paper, but the quality is dozens of times better. With such a price advantage, the sales of local and other foreign paper suddenly plummeted.
The market is flooded with a large number of Australian papers of all kinds. Later, Zichengji began to sell various paper products. Including accounting books, students' red tracing books, various posts...
The paper quality is good, the printing is extremely exquisite, and the price is even cheaper. Together with these three factors, more than 90% of the goods in Guangzhou's paper shops have become Australian paper, with only a small amount of paper for calligraphy and painting.
The coarse paper used in the paper and laminating industry continues to be the original product.
Li Luoyou still couldn't figure out how Australian paper could be sold so cheaply and still make money? This paper definitely didn't come from Australia all the way, but even if it was made in Lingao as he expected, he still wanted to
I don’t know how the Australians did it. It seems impossible to say that the papermaking raw materials in Lingao are particularly abundant and cheap - there were no papermaking workshops in this place in the past.
If the Australians were doing business at a loss, then what were their intentions? Li Luoyu became increasingly interested in the Australians.
In the room where Australian goods are stored, all kinds of Australian goods have been placed on the red sandalwood treasure rack in the room, which is full of things to eat and play with. Li Luoyu will come here from time to time to admire and play with these novel gadgets.
His favorite was a crystal-clear "magical tap fire", which could be seen to contain something like water. When the small wheel was turned lightly, flames would appear. This fascinated him.
Sometimes he would think that if this thing was used to ignite cannons and muskets, wouldn't it be better than a match that emits smoke and is easily extinguished? Because he was preparing to take over the task of casting cannons and firearms for the Guangdong government, he was interested in improving this kind of cannons.
Pay close attention to new things with performance.
It's a pity that this item is too expensive, and Gao Zhi's store has been out of stock for a long time. As for Zicheng Ji, this thing has never been sold at all. He asked the clerk to ask if it would be available if he ordered a large amount? Zicheng Ji
But the clerk clearly refused and said that this thing "won't be available again in three or four years."
"You must go and see it." He said to himself again.
"Master is going to Lingao?"
Gu Baocheng, who was standing aside, asked cautiously when he saw that he had said this for the second time.
"Yes, I originally wanted to go there some time later, but now it seems that time is not waiting for me." Li Luoyou looked at the pile of correspondence and books on the table attentively. Among them was a letter from the capital's head office.
The content of the letter was very simple, informing him that the slaves had retreated. The Zunhua branch was completely destroyed, and both people and goods were damaged. The shopkeeper of the Shenyang branch had been notified to try to find out if there were any captured members of the company and their families, and to try to rescue them. Others
Various branches in Gyeonggi suffered different losses of property. Some were looted by the slaves, and some were taken advantage of by officers and soldiers who took advantage of the chaos to intimidate the "laborers". In short, the losses were heavy.
And Governor Yuan, whom he once had high hopes for, has been imprisoned. Public opinion in the capital is fierce, which is very unfavorable to him. After receiving the letter, Li Luoyou sighed. Regardless of Governor Yuan's crime, the end is probably more disastrous. This way
It is impossible for someone to take responsibility for the loss of a teacher and the humiliation of the country.
I originally thought that Governor Yuan was in charge of Liaodong, and the Ningjin defense line was impregnable. Even if he could not "restore Liao in five years", he could still keep Jiannu out of the pass. Unexpectedly, he would detour to Mongolia and enter the pass through Da'ankou in Jizhen.
Looking at this appearance, the imperial court was completely defenseless. The so-called Guan Ning cavalry was nothing more than mediocre.
Thinking of where the Jiannu cavalry had gone, countless families had been destroyed, and public and private property had been robbed. Thinking of this, Li Luoyou was filled with worry and anger.
Not only are they worried and angry, but they are also disappointed. The Tatars used to be just a small tribe in Jianzhou Jurchen. The dead slave chief Nurhachi was just a follower of Li Chengliang, but they actually defeated the Daming Festival, which had hundreds of millions of people and was rich in the world.
The defeat did not count the loss of Liaodong, but now even the border walls have come in. At the gate of the capital, the emperor's feet stretched for hundreds of miles, beating the army to a complete defeat, and even Zunhua was lost! What happened to the world of the Ming Dynasty?
According to Li Luoyou's past thoughts, with the power of the Ming Dynasty, even if the field battle was unfavorable, as long as he relied on cannons and firearms, strong walls and fortifications, and only defended but not attacked, Jiannu would be dragged to death.
Now it seems that Jiannu is living more and more vigorously. Based on Li Luoyou's understanding of Houjin and Ming Dynasty, Jiannu's entry into the customs this time will definitely not be a loss-making transaction. The gained population, money, food, property and livestock must be extremely large.
It will probably be a good year; as for the officers and soldiers, most of them will follow from a distance and "send gifts out of the country".
Regardless of whether he is angry or disappointed, Li Luoyou knows that he is just a businessman and cannot play a role in military affairs. However, he can still work hard to make firearms and refresh armaments. Li Luoyou used his connections to lobby in the previous stage.
The governor of Guangdong and Guangxi and the governor of Guangdong have entrusted him with the imitation of Hongyi cannons. The activities have already achieved initial results. It will probably not take long before the "Guan Shu" will be issued.
Although Quark has sent people back to China to purchase equipment and hire craftsmen, the shipping schedule is long. Even if everything goes well, it will still have to wait for more than a year and a half. The Australians have always been rumored to have sharp firearms. Since they can produce so many in Lingao
Exquisite and easy-to-use goods must have skilled craftsmen and machines in Lingao. Whether it is buying the machines directly and hiring people, or cooperating with the Australians, Li Luoyou just wants the foundry to start working as soon as possible to serve the army.
Make more firearms.
"Please bring Mr. Quark." Luo You ordered.
John Quark, or Quark Qiong, lived a very comfortable life in Ming Dynasty. He got tired of staying in the Li family store in Macau, so he went to Li Luoyu's Guangzhou mansion to eat and drink. From time to time, he could follow along
Li Luoyu was given a free tour of South China. Li Luoyou was interested in winning over him and took good care of him. He had all the women and spirits he wanted, which made the British businessman happy to miss Shu.
Quark was in a good mood: the cotton cloth he trafficked from India was originally piled in Macau and Guangzhou and could not be sold, but recently he suddenly sold it all. Although the profit was not large, it was a small profit in total. And this shopkeeper Li wanted to
Building cannons and artillery carriages was a potentially big business. He sent one of his clerks back to England with a handwritten letter to see if he could find ironworkers and technicians willing to come to China. He also instructed his clerk,
Try to "collect the latest machines specially designed for artillery factories".
The prospect of being an arms supplier to the Chinese army made him a little excited. The Portuguese had already become the emperor's mercenaries. Wouldn't it be better for the British to be the emperor's arms dealers - at least not exchanging their own lives for money.
He heard that the Tatars had attacked near the capital this time, and the officers and soldiers had suffered several defeats, and he was even a little secretly happy. The greater the pressure on the emperor and his civil servants, the easier they were to be persuaded. Quark followed Li
Luo You knew that European firearms performed well in all battles, so the more the imperial army suffered in defeat, the greater their desire to buy new firearms to arm the army.
Of course, he did not express this kind of thoughts, but kept following Li Luoyou in scolding "Tatars", "barbarians" and the like.
"Going to Lingao?" Quark was a little surprised. Li Luoyou has been talking about this for a long time, but has never taken any action. He is a foreigner who is not familiar with the place. He doesn't even know which direction Lingao is in Guangzhou, so naturally he can't.
go.
"That's right, I think I'll go check it out in the next few days." Li Luoyou nodded.
"Great, I've wanted to see this place for a long time!" Quark was very excited, "I want to see how they made those things? And the ship."
"I want to take a look too." Li Luoyou smiled, "Actually, you should be more interested in them."
"Why?" Quark wondered.
"Haha, do you know who bought your cotton cloth?"
"Is it Australian?" Quark was really surprised. Indian cotton cloth is already cheap enough, but it is still not as cheap as local cloth when shipped to China. The thousands of pieces of cotton cloth he shipped took several years to sell.
A tenth of them are sold, and only those with unique patterns are sold.
He originally had ambitions and wanted to sell British woolen goods to the north. Seeing this situation, he knew that it would be impossible to sell the woolen goods.
"Although I have no evidence," Li Luoyou nodded, "but I can be sure that they bought it."
"Lingao," Quark said, "is the business prosperous in this place? Or is there a good harbor?" He suddenly thought: Since the Australians can stay here for a long time, can British businessmen also get a share of the pie here? You must know Europe
No country wants to obtain a stable trading base along the coast of China, but no one except the Portuguese has succeeded - the place occupied by the Dutch can no longer be regarded as China's coastal waters.
If we can establish trade relations with the Australians, or even establish a British commercial post, it will be of great benefit to Britain's trade with China, and I will make a great contribution. If the other party is not strong, they can also seduce the East India Company to send an expedition.
The team drove them out. The East India Company also benefited from its own.
From this point of view, Lingao must go. Even if the business cannot be concluded, we can still find out the truth.
"This place is sparsely populated and has almost no commerce." How did Li Luo know that this British man had used so much thought? He also knew very little about Lingao. This time, in order to prepare for Lingao, he found it with great difficulty.
A person who is familiar with Lingao knows that Lingao is a typical "backwater" in this province.
"As for ports, there are only a few, but they can't be said to be good ones."
"This is strange, where are the Australians going and what are they doing?"
"The sky is high and the emperor is far away." Li Luoyou said.
"You mean, Lingao is a place beyond the emperor's control?"
"China is very big, and there are many things that the emperor cannot take care of." Li Luoyou said, "But once the emperor knows about it, he will have to take care of it."