Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 555 White Tree Oil
The peninsula on the other side of the strait was later the Malay Peninsula, but its area was the entire peninsula, bordering Nakhon Pathom on the north. There were some natives living on the peninsula. Most of them were docile and simple. They lived on fishing and pearling. They were very grateful for the exploitation of the Buddha Qi State, and the Song Dynasty freed them from the exploitation of the Three Buddha Qi State.

In addition, the Sanfoqi Kingdom built a small city on the peninsula, called Langyaxiu, with a population of just over a thousand and 300 soldiers. Fan Ning immediately arranged for a ship to send them back to the Sanfoqi Kingdom.

The main force of the Song army returned to Xingang, while Fan Ning left [-] soldiers to guard the peninsula. A few days later, hundreds of businessmen and dozens of officials came from Xingang.

Everyone knows that although Xingang is developing rapidly, as a commercial port, its geographical location is not very good. It is not as good as the capital of the Three Buddhas, but the geographical location of this peninsula is better than that of Malayu. , especially the southernmost point, just at the mouth of the strait.

The port that Fan Ning was interested in was not the later Singapore, but the port of Malacca. The main reason was that the island of Singapore was surrounded by the sea and had almost no fresh water. Moreover, he now controlled the entire peninsula, and it was not easy to place the state capital at the southernmost tip. Suitable.

Malacca is recorded in the history books of the Tang Dynasty as Kerofusa, where the sun is abundant, the rainfall is abundant, the land is fertile, and the fertile land that can be reclaimed is endless. It is not only suitable for a port, but also a stronghold for the Song Dynasty to control the peninsula.

In the morning, Fan Ning brought hundreds of businessmen to the beach. He pointed to the cape in the distance and said to everyone: "I have been looking for a suitable port on the peninsula for the past few days, and finally found that this is the best port. The water is deep and can dock at [-] stone There are huge ships, and the sea is calm all year round, and there are very few strong winds and waves. I plan to build this place as the second transit port."

"Fan Shijun, is the port only being built here?" A businessman asked.

Fan Ning shook his head, "The entire peninsula already belongs to the Song Dynasty. I plan to name the peninsula Baozhou and the port Fusha Port, and then establish Xinquan County here as the administrative seat of Baozhou, with a population of at least [-]. Ladies and gentlemen, Xingang will still be retained, with a preference for the spice business, but Fusha Port in Baozhou is more inclined to trade with the West. Its size will be at least twice that of Xingang, the area of ​​the business will be expanded, and it will have its own warehouse. Years later, it will become the largest trading port in Southeast Asia."

All the businessmen were very excited and expressed their intention to invest and build a commercial bank here. Fan Ning said with a smile: "Everyone go and see for yourself, and then we can discuss how to plan it!"

The merchants dispersed separately. At this time, Akihito led two Genoese merchants and introduced them to Fan Ning, "These two came from the far west. They are brothers. The older brother is called Pi Luowen, and the younger is called Pi Luowen. Rhodes, they want to follow the envoy's fleet to the Song Dynasty."

Fan Ning was a little strange. Now that the Suez Canal has not been opened, most Genoese merchants prefer to travel by land. He has rarely heard of European merchants who came by sea.

He knelt down on the beach and drew a map of the northern Indian Ocean, and asked the two brothers, "Can you tell me about your route?"

At this time, Europeans were still confused about the outline of the map. They didn't even know what Fanning was drawing?Akihito had a solution. He immediately found a businessman who often went to Dashi. When Fan Ning marked Mecca on the map, the businessman immediately understood and explained it to the two Genoese businessmen.

Pyrod pointed to the Red Sea and headed north, and said in poor Chinese: "Enter the bay, disembark, hire camels to transport the goods northward, and board the ship at Alexandria to Genoa."

Fanning understood that they disembarked in the Gulf of Suez, the northernmost point of the Red Sea, and then hired a camel caravan to walk for two or three days to Alexandria, and then crossed the Mediterranean Sea by boat to Genoa.

His elder brother Pirovin understood Fanning's map, pointed to the Persian Gulf and said, "From here to Baghdad, there are also Genoese merchants over there. Selling goods to them is not very hard work, but the profit is less than half."

"How much does a bolt of silk cost in Genoa?" asked Fanning.

The two brothers looked at each other, hesitated for a while and said, "About 30 taels of silver."

Several businessmen around exclaimed, "This is more than ten times the profit!"

However, Fan Ning saw that the two brothers were not telling the truth and lowered the price, at least five or sixty taels of silver.

He didn't say anything, and asked his subordinates to take them to the Song Dynasty, but Fan Ning still took an opportunity to tell Mingren: "Silk, porcelain and tea are the magic weapons we sell to the West. You have to be careful not to let them sell silkworm and tea seeds. Take them away, although the imperial court has already issued a ban against raising silkworms and growing tea abroad, we still have to be careful."

Akihito nodded, "I will arrange people to follow them and keep an eye on them."

At this time, a soldier ran over and said, "I will report to the envoy, the local chief is asking to see you!"

Fanning nodded, "Bring them here!"

Before the Song Dynasty officials had reached a consensus with the local natives, the Song Dynasty would not interfere with the fishing and hunting of the local natives, and there were not many natives on the peninsula, only 6000 to [-] people, divided into two parts, one part was hunting and picking in the mountains. The other part is fishing and pearling for a living. Basically, there is no conflict with the activities of the Song Dynasty, and even their surplus products are still sold.

Not long after, a chief in his forties was brought up, knelt down and saluted, "Young man Puwanda sees your lord."

He spoke the language of Srivijaya, which was understood by most businessmen and was easier to translate, so Akihito acted as an interpreter for them.

Fan Ning nodded, and said to Mingren, "Ask him, what do you want from me?"

The chief chattered, pointed to the two young girls behind him and some gifts, Ming Ren said with a smile: "He said that these two girls are the most beautiful girls in their clan, and he is willing to give them to the envoy to serve by his side, and also There are a few presents."

Fan Ning was a little bit overwhelmed. Before that, King Boni wanted to give him five beautiful girls. King Srivijaya also said that he would dedicate his daughter to him. Now the chief wants to give him women. Wherever he goes, the other party wants to give women. for myself.

Fan Ning had no choice but to say to Ming Ren: "You tell him, I can accept the gift, but the officials of the Song Dynasty don't accept women, please ask him to take the girl back."

Mingren explained to the chief for a long time, and the chief saw that Fan Ning really refused to accept the girl, so he had to offer a gift.

The gifts are two things, one of which is a box of bright pearls, there are about thirty pieces, all the size of pigeon eggs, very round, hard to see in the market.

The other gift was a large jar, which seemed to be filled with liquid. Fanning was a little surprised. He opened the lid and found a viscous white liquid inside. A strong smell of rubber came over his face. Fresh latex.

"It's latex!"

Fan Ning said in surprise, he has been in Nanyang for several years, and he really ignored this thing.

"Is there a lot of production here?"

Ming Ren translated it, and the chief nodded and said: "The central part of the peninsula is full of this kind of tree, and the yield is very large. We hope to collect it in exchange for items."

It turned out that the chief came today with this idea, and Fan Ning agreed without hesitation, that he could sell it to the garrison, and charge as much as he had.

He asked someone to bring some daily necessities to the chief, and the chief thanked him and left.

Seeing him walking away, Mingren smiled and said: "The local people call it tree oil. There are many trees of this kind in Sanfoqi, Boni Kingdom, and Luzon Island. I think the local people use them to paint houses to prevent rain leakage. .”

Fan Ning stared at the latex and said to Ming Ren: "This is actually a treasure with a wide range of uses. You can call it latex or rubber. It is a special product in Nanyang."

"I've seen it many times, but what exactly is it useful for?"

"When you bake it with a fire, it will solidify. It can be used as a mattress, cushion, pillow, etc. It can isolate the water on the ground. It is very practical to use in a military camp, or it can be used to make elastic ropes for trebuchets. , you can double the shooting range of the trebuchet, or make it into boots, so you won’t be afraid of water when it rains, or make it into a leather pipe, which is convenient for sending water from a long distance, but its biggest role should be as a wheel, so that The big car is no longer bumpy, and the speed is faster."

Mingren scratched his head and said with a smile: "If you say it like this, I'm interested in giving it a try."

Fan Ning said with a smile: "It has one of its biggest weaknesses, which is instability. It is fine in winter when it is made into boots, but it will be deformed in summer, but there is a secret recipe that can make it very stable."

Fan Ning simply asked someone to fetch a pen and paper, and wrote down a prescription: five catties of raw latex, fifty grams of sulfur powder, stir well, and bake at high temperature for one day.

Then he drew the pictures of the inner and outer tires of the car, wrote down the principle of inflation beside it, handed it to Ming Ren, and said with a smile: "This is a business worth hundreds of thousands of yuan. After you return to Quanzhou, find someone to study it carefully. From now on, it will be easier to drive." It's easy."

Ming Ren looked at it carefully for a long while before carefully putting it away.

He asked again, "Are you going back to Quanzhou?"

Fan Ning shook his head, "I want Fusha Port to make arrangements, and then go to the east of Sanfoqi Kingdom. It is said that there is a large area of ​​unowned land there, and there is even an even wider world. I want to take a look."

(End of this chapter)