Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 317 Our South China Sea

"Is this the sea route compass to Qianli Changsha and Wanli Shitang?" Military Advisor Jiang looked at Lin Hai in confusion, not understanding why the latter took out this book.

The so-called Thousand Miles of Changsha and Ten Thousand Miles of Shitang are more familiar to people in later generations as Xisha Island and Nansha Island respectively.

In fact, the names of later generations may not be more appropriate than the ancient names. After all, the Xisha Islands are indeed mainly sand islands, but the Nansha Islands are mostly atolls. The names "Changsha" and "Shitang" are quite vivid.

However, another ancient name for these two places among the people of Hainan is quite nonsensical. Every year, Hainan fishermen take advantage of the northeast monsoon to go to these two places for fishing. The Xisha Islands that they arrive at first are called the East China Sea, and the Nansha Islands that they arrive at later are called the North Sea, which is equivalent to taking one character from each word "Northeast".

That’s right, fishermen from Hainan Island have been fishing in these two places since a long time ago. As early as the Han Dynasty, our ancestors named the South China Sea as “Zhanghai” and “Shanhuzhou”. In the Tang Dynasty, other names appeared, such as “Shichuang”, “Shitang” and “Jiuruluozhou”.

In the Song Dynasty, the names of "Changsha" and "Shitang" began to appear in various documents, and the Xisha and Nansha islands began to be clearly distinguished. At the latest from this time, the needle route formula to Xisha and Nansha has begun to be passed down from generation to generation among Hainan fishermen.

By the Ming Dynasty, there were more than a dozen written sea route compasses, which recorded in detail the routes to the Xisha and Nansha Islands and gave names to most of the islands and reefs.

It can be said that the Hainan fishermen in the Ming Dynasty inherited the knowledge passed down by their ancestors for thousands of years, and had basically figured out the hydrology and geography of the entire South China Sea.

Some people in later generations said that Sansha City’s history can only be traced back to the nine-dash line during the Republic of China period. This is pure bullshit!
According to the four elements of territorial sovereignty, namely, "earliest discovery, earliest naming, earliest development and operation, and earliest effective administrative jurisdiction", Dongda's sovereignty over the South China Sea is indisputable. Moreover, the first three elements are absolutely true and have been around since ancient times, and they cannot be older.

As early as the beginning of Huiyou Company's establishment, Lin Hai sent people to various places along the southeast coast to purchase various sea acupuncture classics circulated among the people at high prices.

The most surprising thing was that he bought dozens of handwritten books about the water routes to Xisha and Nansha in various places in Qiongzhou Prefecture. Lin Hai ordered people to compile and organize them, and solemnly named the bound volume "Water Route Book to Xisha and Nansha", which is the one he is now showing to Li Zhongguo, father-in-law and son-in-law.

"That's right. To go to Qianli Changsha and Wanli Shitang, it's most convenient to start from Qiongzhou Prefecture, and Yulin Port is the nearest port." Lin Hai gestured on the map with a wooden stick, "There is a kind of excellent fertilizer in these two places, guano stone, which is the livelihood I prepared for you."

"Guano? What is that? Is it used to fertilize the fields?" Military Advisor Jiang had indeed read some weird books for a few years, and his brain was still very sharp.

"That's right. We in Jinhe Kingdom use this stuff to fertilize the fields..." What Lin Hai said was true. The Mianhua Island off the coast of Keelung was rich in guano. The bumper harvest of Jinhe Kingdom last year depended on it.

Struvite is an extremely excellent nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer. In the pre-industrial era when there were no chemical fertilizers, no other fertilizer could compare with it.

The Pacific War in South America at the end of the 19th century was fought over guano, so it is also called the Guano War. In the first half of the 20th century, the Japanese also spent a lot of money for the guano resources of the Xisha Islands and the Pacific Ocean.

After Lin Hai was successfully pacified, he had to recruit immigrants on a large scale. The guano on Huaping Island alone was far from enough. Fortunately, the guano deposits in the South China Sea were inexhaustible. The natural resources of the South China Sea are of course not only guano. Not to mention the oil and gas on the seabed, which cannot be used in this era, the fishery resources alone are also considerable. Otherwise, Hainan fishermen would not have gone to this desolate and uninhabited area for generations.

"In addition to guano, Xisha and Nansha are also rich in top-quality sea cucumbers, tortoise shells, corals, and pearls. These can either be used as medicine or are valuable jewelry. Currently, no one is interested in them except the fishermen in Qiongzhou Prefecture. You can sell these things to members of the association or to other businesses. I will not interfere."

Li Zhongguo felt a bit overwhelmed after hearing this. He had been murdering and robbing people for most of his life. When had he ever done any business that required capital?
Military Advisor Jiang was very interested. He then asked, "General Lin, no one wants the guano stone. I wonder what price you can offer?"

Lin Hai said: "If you deliver the goods at Yulin Port, the price can be compared with that in Guangzhou City. If you transport it to Jinhe Country, the price can be increased by another 20%!"

As soon as these words came out, both Military Advisor Jiang and his son-in-law were as if they had been injected with a shot of chicken blood. After all, even Li Zhongguo, who had been hanging around on the sea since he was a child, had heard that the dung merchants in Guangzhou were all well-known families, and all of them were wealthy tycoons.

In an agricultural empire, nothing is more precious than fertilizer, so since the Song Dynasty, the manure industry in various places has been monopolized by powerful families, which can be said to be extremely profitable. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, every city had a so-called "manure road", which was actually the sphere of influence divided by manure merchants. During the Republic of China period, the transfer price of a manure road was often as high as several hundred dollars.

"General Lin, are you really going to take as many guano stones as you can?" Li Zhongguo didn't say anything for a long time, but now he was very anxious. Military Advisor Jiang beside him was even more like a rabbit with red eyes.

"Really? Besides, you can't mine all the guano in Xisha and Nansha in your lifetime. Let alone 3,000 people, even feeding tens of thousands of people is no problem. I can allow you to monopolize this business for three years."

"What about three years from now?"

"Let's talk about it three years later. Maybe I will let you operate it exclusively, or I may allow merchants from Jinhe Kingdom to contract this business." Lin Hai couldn't say when he could open up Jinhe Kingdom's private overseas trade. This depended on when he had the confidence to confront the Ming Dynasty.

These words made Jiang Junshi believe that the guano stone business had great potential. He immediately said to Li Zhongguo, "Father-in-law, General Lin is so kind. You should accept his offer."

Li Zhongguo was still somewhat bewildered: "General Lin has given orders, and I shall obey them, but how will my brothers live in three years? I am a man of my word, and I have promised not to rob people on the land, and I will never break my promise even if I starve to death!"

"It's good that you can keep your promise, otherwise I can send you to see the King of Hell at any time!" Lin Hai said, "I said that the guano stone business can support far more than 3,000 people. Three years is enough time for you to grow and develop. By then, you can go to Annan to rob people and sell them to my Jinhe Kingdom as slaves. I will take as many as you can!"

This deal was more to Li Zhongguo's liking. He immediately had a plan in mind and immediately knelt down in front of Lin Hai with a plop: "General Lin, I'm going to Yulin Port. From now on, you are my reborn parent."

(End of this chapter)