1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 469 Commercial Espionage
On March 1643, 4, Hanzhou, Jianye City.

Mu Daxin walked a few steps, came to the corner of a building, and looked back casually.In twos and threes on the streets are laid-off craftsmen and businessmen, as well as some government officials and petty officials.Some rushed home in a hurry, and some talked and laughed and took them to restaurants and restaurants in the city to have a drink.

Everything seemed so harmonious and peaceful, but when Mu Daxin caught sight of two patrolling policemen on the side of the street, his heart skipped a few beats, he quickly turned his head away, and continued walking towards the west of the city.

Mu Daxin is considered to be the earliest group of immigrants from Hanzhou. Five years ago, he set off from Haizhou (now Lianyungang City, Jiangsu Province) on an immigration boat of Hanzhou people. He traveled all the way across the ocean and traveled thousands of miles before arriving in Hanzhou Zhou Jianye City.Because when he arrived, he registered his identity and background, and once had a beautiful mason's craft in the Huaibei countryside, so he was entered into the Hanzhou No. [-] Construction Company and became a construction worker.

With the continuous improvement of his own craftsmanship and strong comprehension ability, he quickly mastered the use of many new building materials and new techniques in Hanzhou. Today, Mu Daxin is already a senior craftsman of Hanzhou No. [-] Construction Company. A high salary of five Hanzhou silver dollars.Counting it, he is also the "middle class" in the current social class of Qi State.

Half a year ago, entrusted by the representative office of the Dutch East India Company in Jianye City, Hanzhou No. [-] Construction Company built a large-scale commercial building for it, which also served as the representative office of the East India Company in Qi State.As one of the senior craftsmen in the construction company, Mu Daxin was appointed to supervise the overall construction progress and specific construction work of the project.

According to the efficient construction progress of the Hanzhou people, the construction of the Dutch business hall should be completed in three to four months.However, during the construction process, the Dutch kept adding new construction requirements, and even often stopped the construction, saying that they needed to ask Batavia for instructions on the modification requirements of the business hall and the specific use of certain building materials. The entire construction period was repeatedly delayed.

Hanzhou No. [-] Construction Company is also very annoyed by this. There are still a lot of construction needs in the Daqi Kingdom. Waiting for our construction company to enter the site for construction, how can you allow a Dutch business house to take up precious manpower and material resources for nothing.In a fit of anger, most of the construction craftsmen were withdrawn from the construction site of the Dutch business house, leaving only Mu Daxin with seven or eight workers, slowly advancing the construction work here.

The Dutch didn't complain too much about this, and they didn't seem to care about the progress of the building.But Mu Daxin, who was supervising the construction of the Dutch business house, found something strange in it. The cement on the construction site would often be short.

The Dutch are stealing cement!
It should be known that cement can be directly mixed with water to form a slurry, which can be hardened in the air or in water, and can firmly bond sand, stone and other materials together.Its strength after hardening is comparable to that of rock, and it is the most convenient and excellent building material in civil construction and water conservancy engineering.At the same time, it is the best material for city defense facilities and fortress construction. If some steel bars or bamboo bars are added when building defense facilities, the degree of protection will be stronger and more durable.

As for cement, the Daqi Kingdom does not export it to the outside world, and it is even listed as a state secret, which is prohibited from being leaked to the outside world.The State of Qi does not hope that when there is another war with the Dutch in the future, their army will face the extremely strong fortresses in various strongholds of the Dutch East India Company, and these fortresses also use the cement invented by Hanzhou.

When Mu Daxin questioned the Dutchman about the shortage of cement, the other party flatly denied stealing cement materials on the construction site.In view of the absence of any evidence, Mu Daxin immediately stated that he would report the matter to the construction company and the local police department to thoroughly investigate the shortage of cement on the construction site.

Rick Wolf, the representative of the Dutch East India Company in Jianye City heard the news, and immediately rushed to stop Mu Daxin, and warmly invited him to a restaurant.In the private room, he took out twenty gold coins and placed them on the table.

Mu Daxin's eyes suddenly became a little straight, the golden gold coins seemed to be emitting dazzling light, which made him a little distracted.He understood what the other party meant, as long as he kept silent about the lack of cement, the gold coins were his.The twenty gold coins may be worth hundreds of Hanzhou silver dollars, which is more than what I have earned through years of hard work.

It seems to be a normal thing for building construction to consume more or less cement.When Mu Daxin stuffed those twenty gold coins into his pocket by some strange circumstance, he was thinking like this.

Since then, the consumption of cement at the construction site of the Dutch business house seems to have become slightly larger.

However, in January this year, Rick Wolf approached Mu Daxin again, asking for the cement formula, and promised to give him 1000 Hanzhou silver dollars as a reward.

In this regard, Mu Daxin categorically refused.The shortage of cement may be caused by negligence in my work.But if he wants to hand over the cement production formula to the Dutch, even if he is ignorant, he knows that this is a betrayal of the Daqi Kingdom, and he will be arrested as a spy.Maybe even beheaded.

But Rick Wolf smiled slightly, claiming that since Mu Daxin had already received [-] gold coins from the Dutch East India Company and cooperated with them in stealing thousands of kilograms of cement back and forth, this behavior had already betrayed the State of Qi .If the Qi government knew about it, they didn't care about the Dutch. At worst, they would be warned by the Qi government, and the most serious thing would be to be expelled.

However, Mu Daxin, as a senior craftsman of a construction company, privately "sold" cement to the Dutch. This typical behavior of eating inside and outside will be severely punished by the Qi government.

If Mu Daxin helps the Dutch East India Company obtain the formula for cement production, then not only can you get a high salary, but you can also go to Batavia or other strongholds under the control of the East India Company, India, Ceylon are all fine, and if he wants to, he can even take him to Europe to live a wealthy life.

Mu Daxin heard Rick Wolfe's words that were half threatening, half seductive, and he knew that he had boarded a pirate ship and could not turn back.But he is only a senior craftsman of a construction company, and he does not have the formula for cement production.

Therefore, in the name of a senior craftsman of Hanzhou No. [-] Construction Company, he began to frequently enter the Jianyecheng Cement Factory, and the stewards and craftsmen he was familiar with began to consciously talk about the steps and processes of how cement is produced, as well as various Material ratio.

Until last week, under the urging of Rick Wolfe, Mu Daxin found out about the various steps of cement production and the ratio of materials, and based on his experience in using cement on weekdays, he wrote Four or five different cement ratio recipes.Although these production formulas are not very accurate, but according to the information he collected and the formula process, after the Dutch get it, as long as they go through several rounds of physical tests, it is estimated that qualified cement materials will be produced soon.

In the evening of this day, Mu Daxin hid several cement formulas next to his underwear, pretending to be calm, and came to the west of the city to meet the representative sent by Rick Wolfe, and prepared to hand over the cement formulas to him.

Along the way, he always felt that someone was following him, which made Mu Daxin quite startled.

Cautiously entered the appointed restaurant, and saw that the Ming interpreter who often followed Rick Wolfe was already sitting in a seat near the window, drinking honey wine and eating a few simple dishes, as if expressing Very laid back.

Mu Daxin glanced around the lobby of the restaurant. When a few guests saw someone coming in, they just looked over subconsciously, and then continued to eat their food with their heads down, or continued to chat with their companions on the topic just now.

Mu Daxin walked to the desk of the East India Company interpreter, sat down, then poured a glass of honey wine, and drank it in one gulp, calming down his mood a little.

The interpreter smiled at Mu Daxin, looked left and right at the lobby of the restaurant, and then fixedly looked at Mu Daxin, with a hint of expectation in his eyes.

Taking a few mouthfuls of food with chopsticks, and pouring himself another glass of wine, Mu Daxin drank it down again, then reached out and took out a few folded papers hidden next to his bosom, and was about to hand them to The interpreter.

"Drink and talk, and the side dishes you order are not many." Suddenly, a voice came from behind, a young man in his 20s stood at the table, looked at the two with a smile, and then sat down on his own. Beside the two of them.

Mu Daxin was so startled that his hands trembled, he turned the note in his hand onto the table, and looked at the young man beside him in horror.

"What's in your hand? Can you show me?" The young man seemed to know the two of them very well, and while talking, he stretched out a hand and lifted Mu Daxin's palm that was on the table. up.

"Tsk tsk..." Under the horrified gazes of Mu Daxin and the Dutch interpreter, the young man opened the slips of paper on which the cement formula was written, "I thought it was a large payment voucher issued by the Hanzhou Bank. Unexpectedly, it is just some notes. Hey, please tell me, what is written on this paper?"

Mu Daxin and the Dutch interpreter listened to the teasing words of the young man next to him, their foreheads were constantly sweating, but neither of them dared to move.Because there were already several strong men standing behind them. Although they were not wearing uniforms, they all knew that something had happened!

"Please send the two of them back." The young man looked at Mu Daxin and the Dutch interpreter, who were ashen-faced, and ordered coldly, "Also, send someone to inform the lord of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, just say, the Dutch , a little irregular."

"...My lord, please forgive me!" Mu Daxin fell to his knees with a plop, tears and snot running down his nose, and his hands were about to hug the young man's leg.

"Can I forgive you, I don't care." The young man sneered, "Be decent, and don't disturb the wine guests here."

As his words fell, two strong men behind Mu Daxin held his arms and dragged him to the outside of the restaurant, leaving behind a room full of astonished guests.

(End of this chapter)