Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 1632, After a war, business is easy to do
Chaling on the Persian Gulf, the colony of the Li family.

After several years of investment and construction by the Li family, Chaling has already taken shape. The port is quite large, and ships are parked here. Around the port, a small town with a population of tens of thousands is also neatly planned. .

Buildings stood by the port, and the glass above them shone brightly under the sunlight.

In the port, you can see a large number of slaves constantly decorating goods, and you can also see slave ships leaving the Persian Gulf full of slaves.

The ships arriving here are basically full of food, medicine, weapons and equipment, swords, bows and crossbows, etc. These things are very popular in the Middle East now, and there are not enough to sell.

"Mr. Li, we need a batch of food, gunpowder, arrows, armor, and weapons. This is the list. Can you see if you can deliver it to Baghdad for us?"

Charland delivered a list to Li Zhaofan, and then drank tea silently. The habit of drinking tea has become popular not only in Europe, but also in the Persian Empire.

After being in contact with Daming people for a long time, they gradually fell in love with drinking tea.

As the teacher and important minister of the Persian Emperor Ismail I, he has always been running around for the Persian Empire and working hard all his life.

Of course, because of this, he has traveled far and wide, and has seen a lot. He has even been to Daming several times. He is very aware of the strength and prosperity of the Ming Empire, and he is also aware of the predicament the Persians are facing now.

"One hundred thousand tons of food~"

"Thirty thousand swords~"

"One hundred and fifty thousand arrows, one thousand barrels of gunpowder, and several medicines."

"[-] muskets, [-] sets of clothes..."

Li Zhaofan looked at the list carefully, and there is no doubt that this is a big deal. After calculation, the amount is more than two million taels, which is a big deal.

It's just that Li Zhaofan looked at Charland in front of him habitually. He knew very well that the Persians are as poor as ghosts now. It is said that even their emperor Ismail I's palace can't see a single piece of gold. up.

Where do they have money to pay for such a huge military purchase demand.

"I can prepare all the things you want and send them to Baghdad, but for the price, you must have a rough idea in your heart. How are you going to pay?"

What Li Zhaofan meant was very clear.

I have the goods here, and I can help you raise them. The key is the question of money.

"We only have [-] slaves on hand now, and you can ship them away directly on the edge of the Persian Gulf."

When Charland heard this, he also sighed helplessly in his heart.

Successive wars have made Persia's not-so-rich life worse. Now that I really can't get any money out, I can only send soldiers to capture slaves in the Mesopotamia to exchange things.

"Fifty thousand slaves!"

When Li Zhaofan heard this, he immediately raised his eyebrows. The people in the two river basins are about to be captured and sold out by you Persians. In just a short time, you have captured another [-] slaves.

"The fifty thousand slaves are far from enough."

But 20 slaves, even counting 100 taels of silver each, are only [-] million taels of silver, and the goods purchased by the other party are worth at least two million taels of silver.

There are [-] dans of grain. Although the grains are worthless, they have to be transported from Tianzhu. In addition, it is a time of war and the price of grains is soaring. The [-] dans of grains cost at least [-] taels of silver.

This is still a price of conscience. If the lion really opens its mouth and calls for one hundred thousand taels of silver, you will also have to buy it when your army has no food to eat, not to mention that it will be sent to Baghdad.

Thirty thousand swords, this one is even more expensive.

Swords are made of iron. At present, although the colonies and feudal states of the Ming Dynasty are blooming everywhere, and there are many feudal states and colonies that are making iron, they can't compare with the local side of the Ming Dynasty. There is no surplus at all. can be exported.

Therefore, this sword needs to be imported from the South African colony. Only the South African colony now has a large steel factory and a large iron mine has been discovered, and there can be a large amount of rich iron for export.

Including the transportation cost, the [-] swords need at least [-] taels of silver to make a profit. If it is cheaper, there is no way to make it by yourself.

There are [-] arrows, and this thing is relatively cheap. Because of the war, Ningguo and Western United Commercial Firms on the Tianzhu side are producing these things in large quantities.

[-] arrows and [-] taels of silver can help you transport them to Baghdad.

One thousand barrels of gunpowder and several medicines. This gunpowder needs to be imported from the mainland of Daming. At present, only Miyun Arsenal has mastered a large amount of technology for manufacturing gunpowder. The output is high and the quality is good, but the price is really not cheap.

One thousand barrels of gunpowder does not have [-] taels of silver, so I will never do this business. As for the medicines, many of them need to be imported from the mainland of Daming. I also have no money to make.

The most expensive is [-] muskets. Although the requirements are not high, the muskets from the South African colony are fine, but even the muskets from the South African colony cost one hundred and fifty taels of silver, and [-] is One and a half million taels of silver, I hardly have much money to make.

As for [-] pieces of clothes, this one is cheap, and Ningguo can buy it here, as many as you want, and you can get it for a few thousand taels of silver.

Calculated from this, the transaction needs at least two and three million taels of silver, and he didn't earn much.

Of course, if the other party paid all the money with slaves, the slave could make a fortune by himself, and it was still very profitable, at least [-] taels of silver.

But the other party only had [-] slaves, which was obviously not enough to pay the sum.

"I know this is definitely not enough to pay, but in the future, all the slaves we catch will be handed over to you, Mr. Li, until the money is paid off, how about it?"

Charland certainly knew that [-] slaves were not enough to pay the amount.

There are many large and small commercial firms in Daming, and they are not dealing with one or two companies. Li Zhaofan in front of him still has a conscience. I want to report you four million taels of silver.

At the beginning, the Persians just hired the Four Seas Trading Company to transport tens of thousands of troops to West Africa. The firm was overwhelmed.

Up to now, Persia still owes the Four Seas Commercial Bank millions of taels of silver, and the interest alone has hundreds of thousands of taels of silver to repay every year.

Since then, the Persians have known that the Four Seas Trading Company is really good. Compared with Li Zhaofan, they are building a colony here in the Persian Gulf and doing transit trade.

What is needed can be done by Li Zhaofan, and a lot of money can be left over.

Li Zhaofan is the stepson of Li Dongyang, a cabinet minister of the Ming Dynasty. With this relationship, everyone should give them face, and they can get anything, and the price is not too expensive.

"We are also old friends, not once or twice cooperation."

"To be honest, I already earned very little from this transaction of yours, and now I need to pay millions of taels of silver in advance. The risk is really too great."

When Li Zhaofan heard this, he wanted to pay for it himself. This business cannot be done. Don't make any money, and even his own capital will be folded in by then.

God knows when you Persians will be able to capture enough slaves.

If you can't defeat the Ottoman Empire, you will have to return to the Persian Plateau at that time. I hope you will sell cattle and sheep, dig lapis lazuli, and return the silver to me in the Year of the Monkey.

Who doesn't know that you Persians owe a whole lot of debt now, and the Sihai Commercial Bank alone has millions of taels of silver that have not been repaid.

"Mr. Li, this statement is wrong~"

"With Mr. Li's status in Daming, many of these things can be paid on credit."

"In addition, we have cooperated with Mr. Li many times, and you have made a lot of money from it."

"Especially in this slave trade, you can make a lot of money just by changing hands. We in Persia are under a lot of pressure right now. Otherwise, how could we easily sell them so cheaply?"

"Now, we Persia and Egypt have also suppressed the Ottoman army in the Middle East. As long as we have this batch of supplies, we will definitely be able to win a big victory. There are only tens of thousands of slaves, and you will be captured in a few months."

Charland said with a smile.

"No, no~ Really not!"

"For those of us who do business and buy and sell, although we can rely on credit to buy a little bit, we still need to see the silver, and we can't just take things from others with empty teeth."

"This is the case in the slave trading market. It doesn't matter if you sell it to anyone, because the transportation is a big deal. It is indeed more expensive in our Daming mainland, but to transport it there, the transportation fee is a huge sum."

When Li Zhaofan heard this, he immediately shook his head.

Whatever you say, I won't just do business with you like this, at least give me hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, so I can handle things easily.

"You Daming people, you really know how to do business."

"This time I came here, and I brought a boat full of lapis lazuli, so it can be used as part of the money, right?"

Chaland looked at Li Zhaofan and felt helpless.

These Daming people are really good at doing business.

"A ship of lapis lazuli?"

"Haha, then we made the deal."

When Li Zhaofan heard this, he readily agreed.

Lapis lazuli is an expensive dye, because of its natural dark blue, cyan blue, purple blue and other colors, this color cannot be artificially produced by the Ming Dynasty or the West.

Therefore, since ancient times, it has been an extremely expensive dye. Europeans like to use it for painting. The blue dye made of lapis lazuli is the most expensive dye. It is more expensive than gold, and it is often difficult to obtain. It is the dream of countless painters. color.

On Daming's side, the painters in Daming also like this color very much. At the same time, Daming's textile industry is extremely developed, and the requirements for dyes are getting higher and higher.

Cyan is an extremely important color, often used on the most high-end clothes and cloth.

Therefore, the price of lapis lazuli is very high, and it is now the most important export product of the Persian Empire. For this reason, the Persian Empire even spent a huge amount of troops and manpower to conquer Afghanistan and firmly control the output of lapis lazuli.

The value of a shipment of lapis lazuli is extremely high, and Li Zhaofan can make a lot of money as long as he resells it.

"readily!"

When Charland heard this, he immediately laughed.

There is no way, Persia is poor, and I can only buy what I need in this way.

Soon, Li Zhaofan sent Charland out.

"This deal is very risky!"

Li Zhaochun looked at Charland who was leaving, thought for a while and said to Li Zhaofan.

"I know, but we have to make this deal."

"There is a war now, and the business is doing very well, but this war will not last forever. If we don't seize the opportunity to earn more money, we will not have such a good life in the future."

"Once this war is over, we can only sell the old pearls. How can there be so many slaves?"

Li Zhaofan said with a sigh.

It is really difficult for my family to build a colony here.

There is no water in a desert, and I don't know why I came here when my head got hot.

There is also news from the family, let me continue to expand, saying that there is a precious resource here, and it will definitely have a bright future in the future.

Thinking about it now, there is nothing but sand here, that is to say, there are pearls in the sea, which can earn some money. It is really not that there are any precious resources.

"That's true. We don't do this business, but other firms will."

"Although there are some risks, the profits are still possible."

Li Zhaochun nodded after thinking about it.

"Go ahead and prepare. Send a telegram to King Ning, asking him to send a ship to transport the grain and the slaves along the way. Just let it go, and we will earn less."

"Send a telegram to the South African side and ask Marquis Taiping to send the goods over, and hurry up to prepare the other goods."

Li Zhaofan thought for a while and ordered.

"Ok!"

"I'll go right away. Now that there is a telegram, it's much easier to do business. Many things can be settled with a telegram. Otherwise, there are so many goods, some of us will run away."

Li Zhaochun nodded, and immediately went to get ready.

As for Li Zhaofan, he is now thinking about the Li family's colony.

"The British prince came to the Persian Gulf to open up a colony. It seems that there may be some precious resources here."

"Otherwise, in terms of the character of the British public, he would never spend a lot of money to come to this desert area."

"But what precious resources are there?"

"I have asked people to investigate carefully, and even dug three feet into the ground, but they haven't found any so-called precious resources."

"Will this Liu Jin deceive people?"

Li Zhaofan was thinking in his heart.

Life in the Li family's colony is not easy now. The premise is that a lot of money has been invested in it. That is to say, by virtue of the current war, they can earn some money back.

But generally speaking, the Li family is still very short of money.

"Father sent another telegram to emphasize this matter, obviously he believed in Liu Jin's words."

"Based on Liu Jin's personality, it's not a lie."

"Just what kind of precious resource is this?"

Li Zhaofan really couldn't figure it out. He looked at the desert in the distance. There was sand everywhere, and he couldn't see anything other than sand. He really couldn't figure out what precious resources could be found here. Could sand be sold for money?

"Forget it, no matter what, the most important thing now is to seize the time and opportunity to occupy more places. Compared with the British public, the gap between our Li family and the British public is still too big, and the British public will occupy them all."

Li Zhaofan really couldn't think of any precious resources here, so Li Zhaofan simply didn't think about these things.

Right now, making money and occupying land is what matters.

Now the business is easy to do, that is to seize the time and the opportunity, and earning more money is the kingly way.

Soon, with the big orders from the Persian Empire, the entire Chaling Port became busy, and large ships kept sailing to the Mesopotamia.

(End of this chapter)