1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 133 Phu Quoc Island

Qi Dajiang held up the binoculars and carefully observed the island in front of him.

The island is located in a huge bay.It is about twenty miles away from the nearby land, whether it is to replenish supplies nearby, or to defend and attack on the island, it is a good distance.Of course, the premise is that you must have armed ships near the island to prevent foreign enemies from landing on the island.

"There should not be many people on the island. We are going to land and go up to have a look." Qi Dajiang put down his binoculars and said to Hu Pingjiang.

"Well, I'll take ten people to the island first to see if the island can accommodate a thousand people." After Hu Pingjiang finished speaking, he greeted ten brothers and prepared to land on a small boat.

This island located in the bay is Phu Quoc Island, the largest island in Vietnam in later generations.

It is 11 kilometers away from Bokor on the south coast of Cambodia in the north and 69 kilometers away from the west coast of southern Vietnam in the east.It is about 48 kilometers long from north to south, and 27 kilometers wide at its widest point from east to west, covering an area of ​​596 square kilometers.

Geographically, the eastern half of the island drops from 600 meters above sea level in the north to 366 meters in the south, while the western half and the southern tip are relatively low-lying, and part of the island is covered by forests.

The island produces jet, anthracite, pepper, cocoa, coffee, betel nut and coconut, and the surrounding fisheries are well developed.It has a tropical monsoon climate with 23 months of dry winter.

Cao Xiong's fleet stayed overnight at Fuguo Island. At dawn the next day, he left the newly purchased Galen ship "Xinghan" commanded by Qi Dajiang to investigate the situation of Fuguo Island. Cao Xiong took other ships along the occupied island. City, the coastline of Annan, and drove straight to Daming.

Qi Dajiang's task is to find out whether the island can accommodate thousands of people. If possible, he will set up a simple camp, buy food and living utensils in the nearby city of Champa, and make preparations for the immigrants from Ming Dynasty who will be transferred here.

According to the plan agreed on the road, after Cao Xiong's fleet arrived in Guangzhou, the "Kaifeng" and "Xingye" (newly purchased Galen ships) were in Guangzhou, Foshan, and Haojing (Macau) to collect craftsmen, entertainers, and young adults. , as well as all kinds of scientific books published by Ming Dynasty that Qi Tian requested.

Once the ship is full of personnel, it immediately sails to Phu Quoc Island, unloads these personnel and supplies, and then returns to Daming.

The other ships, under the leadership of Luo Rucheng, went to Haizhou (Lianyungang) through northern Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangsu and Zhejiang within Zheng Zhilong's sphere of influence, and transferred a large number of hungry people from Huaibei who had gathered here.

They will turn back three times to transport as many hungry people as possible to Guangzhou, and then the "Kai Kai", "Xinghan" and "Xingye" will be responsible for the relay transfer.The entire large-scale relay transfer lasted until the beginning of May, and then all returned to Batavia one after another.

After a rough calculation, it is estimated that 5000 to [-] people can be transported to Phu Quoc Island for a three-month uninterrupted transfer.

At that time, Cao Xiong will return to Hanzhou with the "Kai Kai" and "Xing Han".After staying for a while, he took more than 200 armed men trained in advance by Jianye City and rushed to Batavia, and together with the Dutch, attacked the Kingdom of Aceh.

"That's all I've caught. If I want to catch more people, I'm afraid I'll go to the depths of the island!" Hu Pingjiang pointed to the forty or fifty short, black and thin natives squatting on the ground, and said with a wry smile. .

"Are you honest and obedient?" Qi Dajiang shook his head, feeling that there were still fewer people caught.

"A few shots were fired, and we were all lying on the ground." Hu Pingjiang smiled. "They see that we are Ming people, but they are more honest and cooperative. ... just can't speak Chinese!"

"Okay!" Qi Dajiang said: "Give them tools, and they all go to cut trees! Just like when you first arrived in Hanzhou, build a wooden house and build a camp.... Tomorrow, you are bringing some people to the island. , Try to catch as many people as possible to work. I will go to Chenla, buy some grain, and store it here.”

"Second brother Qi, we have occupied this island, no one will come to ask us for it, right?"

"The small country in this area is constantly fighting, and I think I can't spare the energy to manage this small island." Qi Dajiang once heard the fourth brother say that the small country in this area is very chaotic, and the largest Annan is divided into three parts, and they fight back and forth go.The strange thing is that Annan Nannan (Ruan's) suppressed Champa again, which made Champa unable to support it (in 1697, Champa was destroyed by Annan's Ruan).The nearby Chenla (now Cambodia) seems to be wrong, and secretly wants to support Champa against Annan's southern forces, but it does not do anything of its own.

As for this small island, it is estimated that all parties have not taken the time to come and take a look.

"That's good!" Hu Pingjiang said: "If we keep occupying this island, that would be great. Starting from Daming, we can arrive here in about ten days, just to rest our feet. By the way, let the immigrants breathe and catch their breath. I guess On the road, you can save a few deaths!"

"It's good to occupy it! But, we don't have extra ships to stop here to take care of it." Qi Dajiang said with some regret: "Without warships to take care of it, the enemy can't easily attack it."

"Then build a city on the island." Hu Pingjiang said: "Bring some cement from Hanzhou, build a small fort, and station a few hundred people. As long as there is no shortage of food, and dig a few wells, ordinary enemies will surely Unbreakable!"

"We still have too few people!" Qi Dajiang sighed, "This place is too far away from Hanzhou, and we are really going to be besieged by the enemy. We may not know for a few months."

At dawn the next day, Qi Dajiang left 30 people for Hu Pingjiang to supervise the captured natives on the island to cut down trees and build camps.Then he drove the "Xinghan" to the nearest port of Chenla.

Gelong Gap (now Baima City, Cambodia) is about 20 kilometers away from Phu Quoc Island. It is one of the most important rice distribution centers in Chenla and an important grain trading port.The main merchants were the Ming merchants from Guangzhou and the East India Company in Batavia.

"Do you only buy two thousand shi of rice?" the hired dentist and interpreter asked Qi Dajiang curiously.

Generally, merchants from all over the world who come to Chenla take up less than half of their shipping space for food, and other precious goods such as agarwood, yellow wax, cardamom, purple stem, wind seed oil, rhinoceros horn, ivory and other precious goods will occupy more than half of their shipping space.These rare objects are transported to Daming or Batavia, and the profit is three to five times.

Therefore, the hired Yaman was very surprised to see that Qi Dajiang and others were only buying food after they disembarked.This is not the behavior of normal merchants at all. Food is really worthless in Chenla.Even if it was pulled to the northern part of Daming, which was short of food, the profit would not even be doubled after deducting the expenses.In Chenla, grain generally exists in the form of cargo ship ballast.

Qi Dajiang looked a little embarrassed, I only knew that there was something missing, so I went to buy something.Buying low and selling high, trading goods, is really not what I am good at.This wouldn't be the case if shopkeeper Zhou or his buddies were by his side.

"It's my first time here, but in the future, I will visit often." Qi Dajiang couldn't help thinking of what his fourth brother said, professional things should be done by professional people.

"Help me choose some goods that are in short supply in Guangzhou, and when it's done, I'll give you 100 taels of silver!" Since you're going to pick up immigrants in Guangzhou, you can't run there with an empty boat, right?

"Also, after you help me buy food and other supplies, go to the city to contact merchants. After half a month, two large ships will come from Guangzhou. I will also entrust you with all the transactions, and the fee will be paid separately."

After hearing this, Su Cha couldn't help but be overjoyed.This is when I met a wealthy businessman who didn't know how to do it, and I could earn 100 taels of silver just by helping to contact the businessman and recommending the purchase of materials.Moreover, there are two big ships behind, so wouldn't he be able to earn at least 300 taels of silver before and after.Oh, not counting the commissions of merchants in the city, I really should get rich!
Although, in the past hundred years, the Ming Dynasty has been a little weak in Southeast Asia, but it is also an existence that many small countries admire and look up to.Therefore, the merchants of the Ming Dynasty are quite powerful here, and they are the objects that many merchants from small countries deliberately make friends with.

"I can't bear to deal with these entertainments. You can handle everything for me... But, at the latest, the morning after tomorrow, I have to load all the goods on board the ship! One day later, I will deduct ten taels from you." Silver." Qi Dajiang heard Su Cha say that many merchants in the city would come to see him and try to sell all kinds of goods in his possession, and immediately became a little timid.How can I talk about business, so I simply entrust this toothbrush to handle it.

Although he is a layman in business, he also knows that as long as the unique treasures of various places are transported to Daming or Batavia, they will definitely make money, nothing more than earning more and less.That being the case, if I entrust others to buy it, even if it cheats me a little, at least I can earn some money and buy more food for the immigrants.

As the fourth child said, for Hanzhou at present, trade is incidental, and accumulating population and developing strength are the most important things.

When Qi Dajiang brought back a shipment of grain and products from Chenla, and returned to Fuguo Island, he saw that the camp on the island was roughly built, and it already had some appearance.A row of wooden huts was also built, and more than a dozen wooden piles were laid around the camp, and the number of natives working there increased to more than 100.

"The day before yesterday, more than a dozen fishing boats came ashore, and I caught them all. Don't tell me, these natives are much better than those savages in Hanzhou. Teach them a few times, and they will know how to work. I People dragged those fishing boats ashore, and they couldn't escape." Hu Pingjiang said with a smile.

"Then I'll stay here for a few more days, help you build the camp, and then go to Guangzhou." Qi Dajiang was still a little worried if he really wanted to leave more than 30 people like Hu Pingjiang here without any cover or hindrance.At the very least, build a small camp first, put people and food in, and have a place to hide and defend.

(End of this chapter)