1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3689

Although the sailing conditions in the river section downstream of Basra are average, there are quite a few merchant ships from various countries along the way. However, their tonnage is generally small and not suitable for long-distance sailing on the sea. It is estimated that most of them are short-distance sailing between ports in the Persian Gulf.

On the first day of the new year in 1659, Qian Tiandun led his troops to the city of Basra.

As a water and land hub connecting the Persian Gulf and the Mesopotamian Plain, Basra is definitely the largest city Qian Tiandun has seen since entering the Persian Gulf. The scale of its urban construction is incomparable to the places he had visited before.

The miles-long riverside port and the huge riverside market based on the port both indicate that the business atmosphere of this place is extraordinary.

About a mile away from the river bank, you can see the city of Basra standing on the plain. This city not only has a solid wall several feet high, but also makes full use of the local water resources and has a complete moat system.

The guide directed Qian Tiandun to a dock specifically for foreign merchant ships. Although two ships in the fleet were obviously armed warships, they did not encounter too many inspections when docking and completed the formalities quickly.

The guide said that Portuguese armed merchant ships would often come here, so the locals should be used to it. Moreover, Hai Han only had four ships in total, so it was unlikely that they came here with hostility.

However, although the inspection at the port was lax, they were not at all sloppy when charging the Hai Han fleet.

The Hai Han fleet had to pay a toll to the port management office. If they wanted to engage in local trade activities, they had to pay a separate transaction tax. In addition, the cost of docking at the port was calculated on a daily basis. These four ships were considered large ships in the Port of Basra, so the fees were naturally not low.

Qian Tiandun asked the guide to find a hotel with many vacant rooms near the port, and booked it directly, letting the crew members take turns to stay there to rest. He himself brought his entourage and guide and entered the city of Basra lightly.

The Khalid family had a trading house in the city of Basra, so Qian Tiandun and his party did not have to find another place to stay. A guide took them to the trading house to stay overnight.

After putting down his luggage, Qian Tiandun went out with his entourage. Now that they were in Basra, they naturally wanted to see the local customs and practices first.

Walking in the city of Basra, looking at the bustling crowds on the streets and the busy shops, Qian Tiandun couldn't help but sigh at the prosperity of this place. It can be said that it is no less than a trading port in East Asia.

Qian Tiandun casually visited several shops and soon discovered goods from all over the world, including some representative specialty products from Hai Han, such as porcelain, tea, silk, etc.

Most of these Hai Han products do not come to Basra through Hai Han’s own sales channels, but are smuggled in by merchants from other countries who have resold them many times at a premium. Therefore, the selling price is also very high, at least three to five times the FOB price.

However, according to the merchants who sell these Hai Han products, the sales in the local market are still quite good. After all, these are high-end goods from thousands of miles away, and the rich are also happy to pay more for these imported goods from afar.

Although Qian Tiandun's main business is not trade, he was very happy to hear such news. After all, the Special Warfare Division will enter the Middle East in the future, establish a base in the Persian Gulf and define its sphere of influence. Transnational ocean trade activities must also be followed up simultaneously, and the income will be used to subsidize military expenses and construction expenses. If the exclusive right to Haihan products in the Middle East can be monopolized to a certain extent, it will be a considerable income for Qian Tiandun, and it may even be more than the military expenditure allocated to the Special Warfare Division by the Executive Committee.

It’s a pity that Li Yuande and Dong Shangyi were sent to negotiate with the Xihu tribe. Otherwise, if the two of them also came to Basra, they might be able to submit a market research report to Qian Tiandun within two or three days.

While wandering around the city, Qian Tiandun also discovered a special market here. What was sold in this market were not ordinary goods, but people. To be precise, this was a slave market.

Although the slave trade still exists in Xingdao, Luzon and other places under the rule of Hai Han, there are no such openly operating slave markets. Generally, slave traders directly contact the officials to sell people to Hai Han’s mines or new colonies as coolies.

Qian Tiandun noticed that most of the slaves sold in this market were African black slaves, and he thought that they were probably the "masterpieces" of the Portuguese.

However, many of the slaves on display on the stage were from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean. They were probably prisoners of war brought back by the Ottoman Empire. Many of them had black hair and black eyes, and looked somewhat like East Asians. Qian Tiandun judged that these people should be from Greece.

The cheapest slaves on the market were basically from the Indian Peninsula and Southeast Asia. According to the slave owners, these cheap slaves were often lazy by nature, not hardworking enough, and even far less useful than the black slaves who were still in the primitive tribal stage, so their prices were relatively cheap.

In addition to these slaves used as coolie laborers, there is also an area in the market that specializes in selling good-looking female slaves. However, this is also a scarce resource, and the price is much higher than that of ordinary slaves. In addition, there is often bidding to buy them. The transaction price of a high-level female slave can even be dozens of times that of an ordinary slave.

However, Qian Tiandun has never been interested in women and had no particular interest in this. He just took a brief look at the market conditions and then moved on to other areas.

After walking around the city for half a day, Qian Tiandun returned to the inn. The Khalid family's inn was located in the south of Basra. The place was not too big, but it was no problem to temporarily receive a dozen guests.

The guide who ran errands for Qian Tiandun to contact the government office also came back and said that he had completed the appointment procedures and could go to the government office to meet the Ottoman administrative officials there tomorrow.

Seeing that he was doing a good job, Qian Tiandun ordered his followers to take some silver coins as a reward to him. The guide was very happy to receive the reward and accepted it with many thanks.

During dinner, Qian Tiandun noticed that perhaps because of its location in the Mesopotamian Plain, the food here was more diverse than in other parts of the Persian Gulf. However, the conditions in Kuwait City, which was only a few hundred miles away, were significantly worse, and the variety of food in the market was estimated to be about half less.

The guide also confirmed Qian Tiandun's view that the Mesopotamian Plain can not only grow traditional Middle Eastern crops such as wheat and barley, but also because of the abundant water resources, it can grow rice and various fruits and vegetables. Animal husbandry is also more developed than in desert areas, so areas like Basra can get sufficient and abundant food supply.

However, Kuwait City, surrounded by deserts, obviously does not have such conditions. Only a few nobles like the Khalid family can afford to buy food, vegetables and fruits from Basra and transport them to the local area.