Da Ming Tai Shi

Chapter 370 Comprador in Guangzhou

Now that he has come to Ganzhou, how could Chen Yunfu not continue to go south to Guangdong.

If it is the wish of Quan's son Chen Jinghe to come to Jiangxi, then it is Chen Yunfu who intentionally took Chen Jinghe to come to Guangdong and Guangzhou.

It's just that when he entered Guangzhou this time, Chen Yunfu made a completely private visit. Except for Mu Shiqun accompanied by more than a hundred masters of Jinyiwei, the rest of the tens of thousands of Jingjun and Jinyiwei all camped outside Guangzhou. And played Chen Yunfu's Grand Master banner.

Officials from all over Guangdong ran out of the city to pay homage, how could they have imagined that Chen Yunfu had brought his children into the city at this moment.

"Father, those people look so dark."

The main road in Guangzhou City is very wide, even wider than the imperial road in Nanjing. According to Chen Yunfu's visual inspection, it is at least sixty feet long, which means nearly 200 meters.

If it is divided according to the lanes of later generations, even if the sidewalks and bicycle lanes are removed, there will be at least [-] lanes in both directions!

Chang'an Avenue in Beijing and Bayi Avenue in Nanchang are far less wide.

In just four years, Guangzhou has undergone earth-shaking changes compared to four years ago.

However, on such a wide main road, it does not appear to be empty, but is full of people everywhere.

What made Chen Jinghe feel emotional was that a stage was set up on the side of the road, not a stage like a street juggler, but a stage.

"The Kunlun slaves just delivered are all the strongest male slaves. They are strong, obedient, and do hard work. They are worth 50 taels for this batch of [-] people. Is there any bid?"

It was an open air slave trade.

Where did Chen Jinghe see Kunlun slaves? It was the first time he saw such a dark-skinned person, and he couldn't help asking in surprise.

The slave business of the Arabs was very prosperous, but they did not obtain a slave trading license in Zhongzhou, so they could only sell slaves to the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Shipping, and then the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Shipping sold them to the market.

In this way, there is a price difference that can be earned.

Yang Shiqi followed him, whispering some Guangdong information he had just collected: "Four years ago, after the opening of the Guangzhou Shipping Department, Guangdong issued relevant laws and regulations."

"I heard that many Arab businessmen also want to buy some people from us and sell them to Europe."

"The land in the far west, which is what you call Europe, the royal family and nobles there want to marry a girl from our Ming Dynasty as a wife, and girls from Jiangnan are the most sought-after."

Chen Yunfu's eyes were suddenly cold and frightening: "Shi Bosi, have you ever done such a thing?"

"That's not true. Guangdong's regulations clearly prohibit it, and anyone who violates it will be beheaded."

Yang Shiqi said: "However, Grand Master, you also said that when the profit reaches more than three times, people dare to trample on all the laws of the world, even if it means sending themselves to the guillotine.

The Guangzhou Shipping Department has not sold a single compatriot in the past few years, but the lower officials dare not speak to those small merchants in private. "

On the surface, it has never been sold, so what about privately?
Daming is not so rich that the whole country is well-off families and millionaires. It can even be said that among the 500 million people in the entire Ming Dynasty, there are at least 6000 million poor households at this moment!
Although it cannot be said that it is impossible to survive, it is definitely poor.

"If you think about it, it's all about selling girls. It's only ten taels or 20 taels of silver if you sell them to a rich family as a maid. If you sell them to these slave traders, it's at least 500 taels. If they hand them over to the Arabs, it may be 1000 taels or even a few taels." Thousand taels."

"Since it's all about selling girls, why don't you sell more?"

The term comprador class is commonly believed to have been born in the semi-feudal and semi-colonial period of old China, but in fact, as early as the middle and late Ming Dynasty, compradors had already appeared.

It's just that in ancient times there was no such thing as class, and the connection between feudalism, capital, and colonization was not understood universally, so it was not well known.

Chen Yunfu nodded and didn't speak. He was in a bad mood now, but he didn't rush to get angry on the spot. He still took a few children to walk around in Guangzhou.

In front of a large shop named Zhongyi, Chen Jinghe was clamoring to go in for shopping, so Chen Yunfu and Shao Ning went in with their two children.

There are many weird things here, a small wooden tube attracted Chen Jinghe, while Chen Yaxi was attracted by a string of magnificent and bright bracelets.

It was a bracelet made entirely of diamonds.

The shopkeeper of the shop saw the dignity through the attire of Chen Yunfu and his party, and came over with a smile on his face: "My lord, Qianyuan has a good eye. I just bought this string of bracelets from an Arab. This one alone is the treasure of our shop, if you say it in the whole city, it doesn’t exist in the whole country.”

Chen Yunfu asked if he could take a look, and the shopkeeper immediately took it out and carefully handed it to Chen Yunfu's hand.

Diamond.

Chen Yunfu was in a trance for a moment.

Have the Arabs started mining diamonds in Africa?

Ah yes, they started trading in North Africa 400 years ago. It is not unusual for them to have several diamond mines in the past 400 years.

Chen Yaxi looked up eagerly, and said, "Daddy, I like it so much."

Things like diamonds naturally have a huge lethality on girls.

Chen Yunfu smiled silently on his daughter's head, and asked the shopkeeper, "How much?"

"Sheng Hui, I only charge you 1000 taels."

Chen Yunfu laughed even more happily: "You really think I don't understand anything, this thing looks good, Arabs get this thing everywhere, it's not much rarer than stones, such a big bracelet How much you can use, your purchase price will not be higher than twelve taels.

Why, I heard that my son's accent is not from a local, and he wants to kill a living? "

The shopkeeper's complexion froze suddenly, he never expected to meet a knowledgeable outsider, and immediately smiled embarrassingly.

"30 taels, I'll leave you with double the profit."

From 1000 taels to 30 taels, the price was tough enough, but the shopkeeper hesitated for a moment and then nodded in agreement.

On the other hand, Chen Jinghe's fancy things were a lot more troublesome.

"Father, look quickly, this wooden tube is amazing, it can be enlarged."

enlarge?

Chen Yunfu was slightly startled, and hastily walked over to take the wooden tube from Chen Jinghe's hand. He saw that there was a piece of glass embedded in both ends, and when he put it in front of his eyes, the scene in the distance could be clearly seen.

This is, a telescope?

telescope!
Impossible, isn't the telescope born in the 100th century? Now it is only the beginning of the [-]th century. How could it be born more than [-] years earlier and spread to Ming Dynasty?

By the way, although the telescope was born late, the lens has been around for a long time. It only needs a chance, and it is not uncommon to invent the telescope.

"Is this also brought by the Arabs?"

The shopkeeper shook his head: "That's not true, it was made by one of our craftsmen. He claimed to be a descendant of Shen Kuo back then. According to the records in "Mengxi Bi Tan", he thought it could reflect the sunlight. It was fresh, and after fiddled with it later, this object was emptied out.

Because he can see far away, he named it a telescope and sold it to me. "

A descendant of Shen Kuo.

The most powerful person in Chinese history?

It's outrageous, off the mark.

Chen Yunfu played with it a few more times and turned to look at the shopkeeper.

"Can you find him?"

"No."

"How much did he sell you for this thing?"

"This." The shopkeeper rolled his eyes and saw Chen Yunfu's love for the telescope, and said, "200 taels."

Chen Yunfu didn't say anything, just glanced at Mu Shiqun, and the latter immediately stepped forward and pinched the shopkeeper's shoulder with one hand, causing the latter to kneel on the ground in pain.

Chen Yunfu knelt down and looked at the shopkeeper with a cold look in his eyes.

"You'd better tell me the truth, otherwise, you will regret it very much."

Chen Yunfu's aura was beyond what a small shopkeeper could bear, his face was pale at the moment, and he said truthfully.

"Five taels! He only wants five taels of silver!"

Five taels of silver, that is to say, the craftsman who invented the telescope was just to subsidize his family.

In other words, he will continue to produce the telescope for sale.

Chen Yunfu stood up and said to Yang Shiqi, "Give him 200 taels of silver."

The latter suddenly ahh.

It was clearly a scam, why did Chen Yunfu still buy it at this price?

Chen Yunfu understood the reason for the price, but just wanted to know whether the telescope was really produced by the craftsman himself as the shopkeeper said.

If it is really an outrageous price of 100 taels or 200 taels, it means that there are no artisans at all, and the people who sell to the shopkeeper only get it by accident, and they choose to sell high prices for rare goods.

Unless you really have the ability to produce continuously, you will be eager to realize the low price of selling five taels.

Of course, five taels of silver was already a sky-high price for that craftsman.

"The reason why I asked about the price was not to rob it. He is willing to sell it, and I am willing to buy it. It's voluntary."

Chen Yunfu helped the shopkeeper to dust off the latter's body, and smiled warmly: "If that craftsman sells this thing again, you must report to the yamen immediately, I have found someone, and I will reward you with 1000 taels. If you don't report it."

The warning speaks for itself.

At this time, Shao Ning, who was shopping for rouge, powder and jewelry, heard arguing, and Chen Yunfu immediately frowned as he searched for prestige.

"Daughter-in-law, what's wrong?"

Shao Ning was fine, but in front of her lay a few servants dressed as servants, and a shivering young man stood among them.

Several female brocade guards who were in charge of protecting Shao Ning personally told the situation.

"Ma'am fell in love with a necklace, but this guy wanted to grab it, but he still had to do it. He humbled himself and taught them a lesson."

This kind of thing is always unavoidable for private visits on microservices. If the venue is cleared, it will save a lot of worry.

Chen Yunfu didn't take it to heart, pulled Shao Ning up and planned to leave.

What's the matter if you don't leave, you can't bully a few ordinary people.

Although they looked like rich people, no matter how rich they were, they were all common people in Chen Yunfu's place.

He wanted to leave, but the young man standing among the servants spoke first.

"You, do you know who I am?"

Chen Yunfu turned his head in disbelief, couldn't hold back, and smiled.

(End of this chapter)