Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 715: The Yuan system is the most suitable political system for the Age of Discovery
At the gate of the provincial government office, a group of Javanese merchants surrounded a young man and came to visit. Guo Kang and others came out to greet him and found that it was the young man who had been following Sun Shiwan. Judging from his posture, it was estimated that there was another important emergency, so they hurriedly welcomed him in.

"Mr. Zhang, now that you have visited us, do you have anything to offer us?" He asked directly after asking everyone to sit down.

"You're welcome. I'm the second child in my family, so you can just call me Zhang Erlang. This time, I'm here to give the young marshal good news." Young Master Zhang also smiled and said, "Do you remember? When you invited everyone to visit the monastery last time, you told Uncle Sun that there were still a few components that were missing. He kept a note of them and will look for them when he has the chance."

"Oh..." Guo Kang nodded politely. But to be honest, there were a lot of things he wanted to do but couldn't do. And Sun Shiwan and others had been there more than once.

Because Sun Shiwan was wealthy and generous, Guo Kang had been trying to get close to him in order to get funding. When meeting with various sponsors, he often brought him along and used him to put pressure on other sponsors like Joanna, implying that they also had to add some money to maintain the relationship.

Sun Shiwan was also very interested in his equipment and even spent a lot of money to buy some of them. In order to promote his products, Guo Kang also told him a lot about mechanical things - of course, like all promotions, he couldn't avoid bragging. He himself didn't even know how many such big promises he had made in the past...

"When you showed the steam arm last time, you told Little King Wu and Uncle Sun that there is a better energy source, but the current equipment is not mature and lacks suitable materials, so it is difficult to produce." Zhang Erlang remembered it very well: "At that time, you said that you need to draw copper into thin wires and then wrap them with soft gum. But at present, no suitable production method has been found. Is that right?"

"Oh, this matter." Guo Kang remembered: "Yes. That kind of energy is called 'electricity', and it has the same nature as the lightning in the sky. This energy is indeed very useful, but the wires I want to make require a lot of metal, and at least rubber materials are required to be convenient to use. Although there are alternative methods at present, they are still quite troublesome. Little King Wu and his people don't have any better ideas at present, because even the Ming Dynasty can hardly provide so much copper to ensure the scale of the industry. So, it can only be put on hold for the time being."

"It's okay. There are some things that the Ming Dynasty can't do, but our Yuan Dynasty may be able to do them." Zhang Erlang smiled and took a box from a follower next to him: "This is the result of our trial. I'll give it to you as a gift."

Guo Kang was very curious.

The box felt heavy in my hand, and it looked like it was made of fine sandalwood. After I opened it, I saw that it was decorated with colorful brocade lining. On the luxurious silk mat, there were several volumes...

"Wires?" Guo Kang didn't react for a moment.

"That's a good name." Zhang Erlang explained, "We use the best copper and have the craftsmen hammer and stretch it repeatedly to get these filaments. As you said before, putting dozens of filaments together makes this thread core."

"We also sent people to look everywhere to see if there is the kind of gum you mentioned. This work is more troublesome than making copper wire. However, the territory of the Yuan Dynasty is vast, especially in terms of trees, the resources are very rich, so we really found the right material. In the south of India and on the islands near the South China Sea, there is a kind of banyan tree that can produce this kind of gum. The craftsmen collected the sap of these trees and made this soft glue that can be used to wrap copper wire."

"These are the more successful samples. Do you think they are good enough?" he asked. "If they are really useful, they can be used to make the machines you mentioned before. We can start producing them in the future."

"This thread should be enough." Guo Kang was so fascinated by it that he quickly replied, "I never thought of other local alternatives before. However, there should be cheaper and better materials, but they are not available yet. This kind of gum is not bad, but I am afraid that its cost is too high and it will affect further promotion..."

"It's better to have it than not. When we do business, we always make sure we have it first, and then discuss how to improve quality and reduce costs. Otherwise, a lot of business will be handed over to others." Zhang Erlang answered without hesitation: "As for this... the cost of the wire, you don't have to worry about it. Although the initial investment is huge, if we are sure that this kind of tree is useful, then we can also reduce the cost very low."

"I don't know much about breeding and planting," Guo Kang admitted.

"Don't worry. This kind of banyan tree grows naturally in our climate, so it shouldn't be too difficult to expand its cultivation." Zhang Erlang calculated for him: "We have a lot of wasteland over there. It can even be said that most of the places have never been developed. Find a few suitable islands, cut down the trees, and plant these trees everywhere. With a larger scale, the yield can be increased."

"We can still use the trees we cut down, and we can make up for the cost of raising and transplanting them, and even make a little profit. As for the labor needed to cut down trees and plant them, we can directly hire local people, without too much additional investment. You see, with this calculation, the actual capital investment required is not high, and the labor consumption can be basically ignored. Therefore, the cost can be kept very low."

"Is that so? Then we can discuss this..." Guo Kang really didn't understand this, and didn't know if what he said was true or if it was just commercial bragging. He could only ask other people later.

"If you are interested, I will talk to Sun Shibo and the others to calculate what is needed." The other party continued: "We in the Yuan Dynasty are currently carrying out a new round of operations to expand our territory, expel the barbarians, and develop the frontier. During this period, there will definitely be a large amount of vacant land and labor. If your country needs anything else, you can also tell us. It would be even better if we can reach a long-term bulk order."

"As for wood, we don't lack it, because we are also developing the Ross area now, so we don't lack it." Guo Kang thought for a while and said, "As for ironware, it's the same as before, we will take as much as we can. As for cotton and cloth, we can also start cooperation."

"Come to think of it, I've been in seclusion to fight the epidemic, so I'm not sure about your progress." He remembered that Sun Shiwan seemed to have mentioned this topic before, so he asked curiously: "How are these progresses? There are also many islands west of Malacca, can you control them?"

"Those are small places, don't worry about them for now." Zhang Erlang waved his hand, still smiling and said: "We have currently controlled the situation in Bengal. It is much richer than the islands on the sea." "Ah? It's not close to Java. Can you maintain the occupation?" Guo Kang was a little surprised when he heard the news suddenly.

"We don't need to maintain too many troops, so the pressure is not that great." Zhang Erlang said, "Bengka is weak, and we knew it before. Therefore, the Sun family took the lead, dispatched only five ships, organized a thousand people, and set off."

"Before, we bribed the local nobles, so we knew the strength of the situation there. After the war broke out, the King of Bengal assembled an army of more than 10,000 people, claiming to be 'endless', and marched south. We even knew their route very well."

"So, we gathered 800 men from the Sun family and attacked the enemy camp at night. The Bengal people were defeated and scattered, and the king was killed in the chaos."

After he finished speaking, he looked at Guo Kang. Guo Kang hadn't reacted yet, and when he saw that he had stopped for a while, he realized that he had finished speaking.

"That's it?" Although he knew the enemy's military strength was very weak, he still asked in surprise, "Is this the end?"

"Uh... yes." Zhang Erlang looked at him strangely, not quite understanding why he was so surprised. "The court ministers and local leaders of Bengal all surrendered, and the situation was quickly pacified by us. The follow-up is all about administration and business."

"I thought that their country was quite large, so it would take more time and more troops." Guo Kang replied, "The Eastern Tianzhu mentioned in the Old Book of Tang must be them. In any case, it is a large country with thousands of miles of territory and hundreds of cities."

"Also, although it's easy to conquer India, it's very difficult to rule. Although everyone often ignores them, India's culture is also very old and has hardly been interrupted for thousands of years, so the heritage is extremely rich and the foundation is very solid. Moreover, their political system is very loose, and the king himself may not be able to control a few people. If you want to manage this place, you may have to invest a lot of manpower and financial resources for a long time to change customs, establish a stable order, and then maintain effective rule. To put it bluntly, this place looks rich, but in fact it's like a cesspool, troublesome and difficult to educate. It's probably not that easy to manage."

"Ah? Why do you care about these?" Zhang Erlang opened his eyes wide, then reacted, smiled and shook his head: "You think too much. We only need to follow the Yuan Dynasty system, set up provinces, arrange Darughachi and some garrisons, that's enough."

"All we need is for these chiefs to pay taxes. Of course, it would be best if they follow our instructions and farm and produce. However, this is not a bad thing for them. Because what we arrange for them to plant is definitely more valuable than what they originally planted. It is a win-win situation for both parties. When they realize this, they will have to support our Yuan Dynasty."

"As for other things, they are unnecessary. We don't care what their customs are, whether they are clean or filthy." He shook his head and said, "Our garrison only needs to kill those chieftains who jump out to rebel. According to past experience, this is actually very easy, because there must be other chieftains who have grudges against them and come back to help us. Besides, the Indians have always been honest and almost no one dares to rebel. Therefore, it is not difficult to rule there, and even the military expenses for the garrison will not be too much."

"Don't worry about these things. We already have the numbers. Just tell us what will be more important in the future and the demand will increase as your equipment becomes more popular. That's enough." He told Guo Kang: "For the rest, we at Da Yuan have our own solutions."

"OK……"

Guo Kang thought about it and found that the Yuan Dynasty's system seemed to be the most suitable for maritime expansion in this era. Now, he couldn't say anything, so he simply agreed.

The two then talked about some specific things. The merchants brought by Zhang Erlang had heard that the plague here had been successfully contained and various projects were continuing, and they believed that there would be many new business opportunities, so they hurried here. They also pulled Guo Kang to ask this and that, and consulted a lot of questions.

After they finished answering, it was already time for dinner. Guo Kang wanted to host a banquet for them, but Zhang Erlang said that many people were not used to the dishes here, so they brought their own chef and prepared the ingredients, and they must invite Guo Kang to taste it.

Guo Kang said a few polite words, but these people were all wealthy businessmen, and the investment amount they talked about was a bit too high, so he had to give them some face and agreed...

When he walked to the door, he found that for some reason, a group of cats had gathered here again. This time, they not only rushed towards Guo Kang, but also arched their backs and breathed at everyone, and even started to run towards the crowd.

"What are you doing again?" Guo Kang was also very angry.

Seeing that such a big business was coming to cause trouble, he was a little anxious. He had no tools at hand, so he pulled out the electric wire that the merchants had just given him from his sleeve and chased the cats and waved it around.

The merchants had never seen such a scene before, and they all ran around in all directions at once, making the scene a mess. It took Guo Kang some effort to drive all the cats away. Everyone quickly got on the car and went to the merchant group's base.

(End of this chapter)