My father Zhu Gaoxu

Chapter 791 The Merchant of Venice

The city is named after its central location on the Suez Canal.

Although this canal that is being excavated will take a few years to be officially opened to navigation, the river channel is already ready. This has been clearly explored by both the Han and the Ottomans, and the two countries are also constructing it in sections. The middle section of the canal In fact, it has been dug through, and the Hezhongbian Market was established on the west bank of the canal.

"The market is open!"

Following the shouts from the officials of the Han Dynasty in the south, someone below rang the gong, and then the gate of the border market on the Han side slowly opened.

The businessmen who had been waiting outside for a long time also rushed in at this time.

These businessmen have long received news of the opening of the border market, and some of them came here half a month in advance in order to be the first to enter the market and get a good seat.

Passing through the gate of the border market, I saw a vast open space inside, with a few buildings belonging to the government. The rest were all divided into areas, and each area was labeled. Which piece of land was chosen by the merchants? , go directly to the government to register, and then pay a sum of money, and the land will be yours.

Therefore, after these merchants entered the border market, they immediately rushed to find suitable land, and then rushed into the government like swarms to pay money to register.

Compared with the busy and orderly situation on the Han side, the Ottoman border market opposite was in chaos.

Although Mufas had already stationed officials, they did not make any preparations when they came to the border city. It was not that they were lazy, but that they had no experience in this field at all and were unwilling to cooperate with the big Han officials. The result was Time wasted in vain.

Now that the market has opened on the Han side, the Ottomans cannot lag behind, so without any preparation, they directly announced the opening of the market. This also caused the merchants from the Ottoman side to swarm in, and then occupied the place to divide the territory. In this way , naturally conflicts are inevitable.

So in just one morning, there were more than a dozen fights in the Ottoman border city, and even many people were injured. One guy had his legs broken.

The Ottoman side was in chaos, and even the most basic security could not be guaranteed. Many businessmen who kept themselves safe simply went to the Han Dynasty to buy land and set up stalls. The merchants of the Han Dynasty were not willing to go to the Ottoman side for fear of being blackmailed by some unscrupulous businessmen. It would be useless to look for Ottoman officials at that time, because the other party would definitely not favor the Han people.

As a result, more and more people came to the Han side, and all kinds of goods also gathered towards the Han side. The land that had been divided before was even snatched away, so they had to draw more to the outside. Some land, otherwise the merchants would be unable to squeeze in.

Businessman Basa, wearing a headscarf, mingled with the crowd and looked at the people around him. He saw that each businessman was busy placing goods, and there were many people watching and walking around. From time to time, some people came forward to ask about the price, and some even made deals on the spot. A batch of The batch of goods is delivered.

As a Venetian merchant, Barcelona was used to seeing all kinds of business scenes, but he was shocked that this border market was so lively and prosperous just after it opened.

Especially in the hands of those Han merchants, a variety of tea, silk, porcelain and other commodities that are very expensive in Europe can be seen everywhere, and the prices are not expensive. If you can buy them and take them back to Venice, you will definitely become rich overnight.

But Barcelona didn't dare to buy it, because even if he bought it, he couldn't take it back. Even his true identity was deliberately hidden by him. Now he is a businessman from the Papal States and has nothing to do with Venice. The relationship is actually very hostile.

The reason why Barcelona did this was of course because of the hostile relationship between Venice and the Ottomans. The two sides had been fighting at sea for many years. Although Venice temporarily had the upper hand, it could not completely defeat the Ottomans. Instead, the Ottomans continued to annex land and stepped up construction. The battleships made the Ottomans stronger and stronger, and now Venice is already feeling the crisis.

In addition, the Ottomans also strictly prohibited the Venetians from entering their territory. As long as they found that the other party was a Venetian, they would immediately arrest the other party, and at least demote them into slaves, and in severe cases, directly execute them. Therefore, unless they are Venetians with special missions, they will not be allowed to enter their territory. Dare not appear in Ottoman territory.

Barcelona is a Venetian with a special mission, but he is not a spy, but a confidant of the Governor of Venice. Since the Governor's beloved daughter, Miss Helen, was captured by the Ottomans, he was sent by the Governor to search for Miss Helen. whereabouts.

Barcelona used his identity as a businessman to inquire about Helen's whereabouts in the Ottoman territory.

At first, Barcelona found nothing. It was not until half a year ago that he spent a lot of money to learn from an Ottoman officer that Miss Helen was not in the Ottomans, but was sent as a gift to a country called Dahan.

Barcelona has heard about the country Dahan many times, especially the fact that Dahan defeated the Timur Empire, which made Dahan's reputation far and wide, and even other countries in Europe heard about it.

So after Barcelona sent someone to send the news about Helen in the Han Dynasty back to Venice, he set off again on his own, leaving the Ottomans to find a way to the Han Dynasty, and finally came to Egypt, because he heard that this place was conquered by the Han Dynasty and the Ottomans, and ruled together. , since there are Dahan people here, there must be a way to get to Dahan.

"Cotton~fine quality cotton~, the lowest price is one piece, first come first served!"

At this moment, a shout suddenly came from the side, which made Barcelona, ​​who was already proficient in Chinese, couldn't help but look over curiously.

In an open space on the left, a businessman and a few waiters were sitting behind a long table, shouting vigorously. Behind them, there were piles of cotton cloth like a hill, attracting many people to watch.

"Friend, are you kidding me? Is cotton really always the same?"

At this time, Barcelona couldn't help but stepped forward and asked the other party in blunt Chinese. Because he was going to Dahan, he had studied Chinese unexpectedly in the past few months and had a certain understanding of the market value of Dahan's coins.

"That's right, it's always money per horse, one hand pays the money and the other hand delivers the goods!" The fat dark businessman opposite replied with a smile.

"Isn't that right? I've heard that the cloth from the Han Dynasty also costs a piece of cloth. If you transport the cloth from such a long distance and sell it at the same price, isn't this a loss?"

At this time, another bearded businessman came forward and asked with disbelief.

It was obviously not the first time for this bearded businessman to deal with merchants from the Han Dynasty, and he knew the prices of various goods very clearly.

Basa is also full of doubts. On the surface, he is a cloth merchant. He often buys and sells cloth. He is very clear about the price of cloth. For example, the cotton cloth produced by this big man, even if it is undyed white cloth, the cheapest one costs two thousand yuan. Or so, but now it turns out to be half the price all of a sudden, which is problematic no matter how you think about it.

"Both guests, there is no need to doubt that my cloth is priced at the same price per piece. If the quantity is large, the price can be negotiated."

The Han merchant selling cloth replied with a proud smile.

"Wait a minute, you are selling this cloth so cheaply. Is there something wrong with the cloth? Or maybe it came from something shady and you came here to sell stolen goods?"

The bearded businessman stared at the other party with a wary face and asked.

"Hey? How can you accuse someone of innocence out of thin air? I bought this cloth from a big man's textile workshop. There is no problem in terms of quality or origin. Otherwise, how could I enter the border market?"

The fat and dark Han Shang retorted somewhat unhappily at this time.

Barca, who was next to him, also thought it made sense. The Han Dynasty was still very strict about merchants and goods. Tax stamps were required for entry and exit, otherwise it would be impossible to sell them in the border market openly.

So Basa reached out and picked up the cloth samples on the stall and looked at them. Although the cloth merchant was just his disguise, he had come into contact with a lot of cloths, and he would know the quality as soon as he got started.

As a result, when Barcelona picked up the piece of cloth, he was immediately surprised, because he found that this piece of cotton not only had fine stitching, but was also thinner and softer than ordinary cotton. It didn't feel like cotton, but was somewhat similar to silk.

"Why is this cotton different from the usual cotton?"

Barcelona couldn't help his curiosity again, raised his head and asked the fat and dark Han merchant.

"Hehe, brother, you can tell that you know the goods at first glance. In the past, cotton cloth was woven by human hands. The cotton threads were thick and thin, and the weavers' skills were also high and low, so the quality was naturally uneven. But our cotton cloths , but it is woven using the latest textile machines. Not only is it cheaper, but the quality is also better..."

As the Han businessman spoke, he picked up a piece of cotton cloth sample and praised the cotton cloth woven by this textile machine in front of Basa and others. Although there were exaggerations, the quality of this cotton cloth was indeed much better than the previous cotton cloth.

"Brother, if I buy more than a hundred horses, can the price be cheaper?"

The bearded businessman who had looked suspicious just now was finally persuaded and asked the Han businessman immediately.

"One hundred horses is too little, at least three hundred horses. Then I can give some profit to my brother!"

The fat and dark businessman replied with a smile.

"Three hundred horses?"

The bearded businessman hesitated after hearing this, and finally slapped the table and said: "Okay, three hundred horses is three hundred horses. Brother, how many can you give me?"

"Haha, let's discuss the price later!"

The dark and fat Han businessman with his big beard immediately went to the back to discuss the price in detail, and a waiter immediately came forward to greet Barcelona and others.

However, Barcelona finally put down the cotton cloth in his hand. If he hadn't gone to Dahan to find Helen's whereabouts, he would definitely have bought a batch of this kind of cotton cloth. After all, both the price and quality were much better than the cotton cloth he sold before.

In the next few days, Basa wandered around the border market while asking about the way to Dahan. Soon after he found out clearly, he left the border market on the Dahan side, and then walked along the canal, preparing to arrive After Port Suez, take a boat to Dahan, hoping to find out the whereabouts of Miss Helen this time.

(End of this chapter)