Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 323 Curly-eared Horse
After the Portuguese directors left, Gongsha presented the gift list that Don Felipe Robo brought to Lin Hai: "This is the gift that Robo brought to you, General Lin, please take a look."

Lin Hai took the gift list and took a look at it. It turned out to be some antiques, calligraphy and paintings. He couldn't help but smile and said, "Gongsha, this must be your idea for Luo Bo, right?"

"General Lin has a keen eye." Gongsha knew that he could not hide it from Lin Hai, so he simply admitted it honestly. The reason why they came a little late was because they went to buy gifts for Lin Hai.

Luo Bo originally wanted to give a self-ringing clock, a spring-wheel gun, and a telescope, as he thought these could demonstrate the Portuguese technology and they were readily available. However, Gongsha stopped him because he had seen these things in Lin Hai's fleet.

Unexpectedly, Lin Hai smiled and replied: "Thank you very much, but next time you can give me some unique Western creations, the more exquisite the better, I think I will like it more..."

Gongsha was startled when he heard this, thinking that Lord Lin was indeed different from the others. He then continued, "It is said that it is impolite not to reciprocate. I have prepared a little gift for you two, a magical leaf from the East..."

As Lin Hai spoke, he waved to his attendants standing beside him, and they immediately served him Dahongpao and Oolong tea brought from Fujian, as well as Longjing, Songluo and scented tea from Jiangnan, all packed in small tin cans to prevent moisture.

Gongsha quickly stood up and thanked him, then said to Luo Bo: "Governor, this is a good thing. I suggest you drink more of it in your daily life."

Lin Hai didn't understand Portuguese, so he continued to introduce it to the two foreigners: "In Ming Country, we call it tea leaves. Drinking it with hot water can not only relieve fatigue, but also prolong life. More importantly, it can be used to prevent scurvy during long voyages."

"Can drinking tea prevent scurvy? This is unheard of." Gongsha was very surprised to hear this.

"Of course. In fact, it can prevent many diseases. You see, we Tang people are much healthier than you when facing infectious diseases." Lin Hai began to deceive people shamelessly. Anyway, you have to boil water to make tea, so this can't be considered a lie.

At that time, tea was not popular in Europe, and the tea trade between the East and the West was almost negligible. However, more than half a century later, tea would become another major trade weapon in the East after silk and porcelain.

What is more worth mentioning is that the tea of ​​the Celestial Empire has almost no competitors. Except for a small amount produced by the Japanese, there is no substitute in the market. Silk and porcelain are different. Their production areas are all over the coastline of Asia.

"This is really good news from God to sailors." Gongsha was overjoyed when he heard this. Scurvy was a major problem that plagued the European shipping industry. After all, they often had to sail across the ocean, and sometimes they could not eat fresh fruits and vegetables for several months.

In these conditions, even the ship's fresh water would become murky, so they simply replaced water with cheap rum to make it easier to drink.

"That's true. I think tea is as indispensable to ocean-going sailors as rum." Lin Hai decided to seize this opportunity and make tea popular among European ocean-going sailors first. These people travel all over the world, which should accelerate the spread of tea around the world.

"Master Lin, thank you so much for your old age..."

"You're welcome. I told you we are friends." Lin Hai changed the topic to the alliance plan. "Next, I want to talk about how we are going to deal with our common enemy. Gongsha, you should have told Captain Rob about my plan, right?" The reason why Lin Hai had to wait until Venezuela left before discussing the specific plan of cooperation with Goa was mainly to keep it confidential. After all, the Council was an autonomous organization of merchants, and it was very likely that the news would leak out and be known to the Dutch.

He never expected that Jan Peterszohn Cohen, the new Batavia president with great strategic vision, had already pointed his guns at the member companies that had no conflicts with the VOC so far...

Regarding the alliance plan, Robo actually has no say in the matter, just like Gongsha. All he can do is to convey the situation of the club's companies to Goa, which may affect the decision of the Vice King of Goa.

After listening to Gongsha's translation, Luo Bo said to Lin Hai: "Yes, General Lin, Gonzavio has told me the details of the plan, and I will do my best to promote cooperation between the two sides. In addition, I have another request. I wonder if General Lin is willing to open a port in Fujian or Jinhe Kingdom so that our Kapitan Mor can anchor and conduct trade."

Capitan More refers to the head of the Portuguese royal fleet, who would travel back and forth between Goa and Nagasaki every year. Portugal stipulated that the Nagasaki route was monopolized by Capitan More, and private merchants were not allowed to go to Japan.

Lin Hai readily agreed: "Yes, you can stop at Magong Port in Penghu. In addition, I want to tell you that the commodities I need most are war horses from Goa and saltpeter from Bengal. You can use these to buy silk and porcelain in Penghu that are cheaper than in Haojing, and then sell them in Nagasaki..."

Before the arrival of the Portuguese, Goa was a horse distribution center on the west coast of India, mainly importing Arabian horses from overseas. On this basis, India also bred the localized Marwari horses and Kathiawar horses.

The common feature of these two horses is that their ears curl inward, which looks very funny, so they are also called curly-eared horses. Both the Marwari and Katiawa horses are excellent war horses, with an average shoulder height of more than 15 hands, and the highest can reach 17 hands, which is not much less than the Andalusian horse.

What's even more rare is that the Curlew Horse has adapted to the humid and hot environment and can be raised on a large scale in Jinhe Country. There are many places in Taiwan with poor soil, such as the Taitung Longitudinal Valley Plain and the tablelands in Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Miaoli areas, which are all good choices for raising horses. Of course, the prerequisite is that the horse breed must be able to adapt to the humid and hot environment.

However, most horses in the world prefer dry and cold weather, and there are not many horse breeds that can meet this condition. The only top-quality war horse is the Indian Curl-eared Horse. Therefore, introducing war horses from Goa can not only serve as a powerful supplement to Jeju Island's horse policy, but also have a far-reaching strategic significance for the continued expansion in Southeast Asia in the future...

However, after hearing what Lin Hai said, Luo Bo became a little worried and couldn't help asking, "General Lin is so interested in war horses. I wonder if he is interested in joining the war between the Empire and the Tatars?"

"No, I am a general who came from a maritime merchant family. My strategic direction has always been on the sea, and my enemies are the Dutch in Batavia and the Spice Islands. If it were not for this, I would not have to introduce tropical horse breeds. There are large grasslands in the north of Ming, and there are plenty of excellent war horses."

Lin Hai knew Luo Bo's thoughts very well and denied it categorically. Anyway, the foreigner didn't know what Mongolian horses were like, so he tricked him into selling him a horse first...

As for the Battle of Zunyong two years later, Lin Hai could easily say that he was asked to send troops by his superiors. After all, he, Lin, was a man of his word and his credibility was impeccable.

(End of this chapter)