open sea

Chapter 911 Silver
The torches crackled.

Wooden boxes were piled up in the narrow and cramped cabin, as if there was a need for stitches. Some boxes were covered with linen sheets and pillows, and some mats were spread on the aisle beside the boxes. The Xiguo soldiers also looked like a doormat in such an environment.

But when the first solid wooden box was opened, everything was completely different.

Inside the dilapidated wooden boxes were wooden planks and paved hay, on which square silver bars were neatly arranged, which looked thicker than the wrist of a thin Spanish musketeer, and every box was like this.

It is not surprising that silver is just a metal, sometimes it is a commodity, sometimes it is a commodity, but in this era, if there is anything that the Koreans and the Spaniards can agree on, it is silver.

However much the two countries differ, they see the same thing in this matter, every Spaniard and every Ming man thinks the same - silver means wealth, and wealth means everything!
Not to mention those stuttering soldiers of the Shenji Battalion, the children of the Zhejiang soldiers are mostly from rich and noble backgrounds, and they join the recruitment only for fame and fortune, but there is also a degree of wealth. For Wan Zhaoli, wealth in the general sense means not worrying about food and clothing.

Only when you don’t have to worry about food and clothing, can you be qualified to pursue promotion and choose what kind of person you want to be.

To achieve such a goal, the standard of how much wealth is needed can be quantified in silver. If you master a craft, you need about 20 taels.

20 taels, those with skills can rent houses and shops as capital, those with idle fields can afford tenant farmers, can afford to buy cattle, can run business, enough to live, eat and wear, and can buy home the tall horse that has been dreamed for a long time, maybe the one you like The girl can come to the door this afternoon to talk about matchmaking.

20 taels can mean everything.

In the past, everything meant a North Korean head.

Now, everything is within easy reach of them.

Take a bar of silver in one of these haphazardly stacked boxes and cut off a small portion of it, and there you have it.

Martyn was happy to see the astonished expression on the face of this tough guy from the Ming Dynasty. This change made him feel relaxed and secure from the bottom of his heart, as if the lost initiative had returned. Facing the collective gaffe of the Ming soldiers, he stepped forward. Stepping lightly, he left a wooden branch from the supporting wooden post and lit the torch, then lit his own pipe, and slowly sat down leaning against the wooden box.

The swirling smoke seems to be able to disperse the stench in the cabin. He looked at Luo Shangzhi and smiled, and said: "This ship is going from the Lima Port in the Viceroyalty of Peru to the Changsheng Port in Asia to deliver [-] tons of silver to your General Chen. Come mint silver coins for the royal family, you can open all the chests, it looks like you haven't seen so much silver."

Luo Shangzhi has never seen so much silver, and all the silver he has seen in his life is not so much. He has no reason not to be surprised. If the silver is not packed in a box but piled up directly, it can still be treated He makes a bigger impact.

"The silver is all dug in Peru. That Potosi, can you dig so much in a year?"

In fact, Luo Shangzhi didn't understand how much one hundred 'tons' Matyen said, but he didn't care. He didn't need a clear quantity to be enough to greatly impact his worldview. do what.

Of course, his mind was full of thoughts about why Chen Mu negotiated peace with the Spaniards. In order to fight for the control of Potosí, they should do everything for it. 300 million taels of silver, no one would refuse to fight for it.

They will find ways to defeat any enemy in the world, and if necessary, even knock the enemy back into the tree.

At least what Luo Shangzhi was thinking at this time was the philosophical question of 'how to beat the Spaniards back up the tree'.

This is a chain problem. The last thing the general thought of was that the Spaniards had controlled the Potosi silver mine for decades, and then there was the problem of attacking the Spanish mainland.

Everyone will have evil thoughts, how long it lasts and whether they are put into practice are related to morality and ability, so the next moment, this problem was erased from Luo Shangzhi's mind, and he recovered enough to be sober.

"Silver mines have just experienced several years of decline. We improved our technology the year before last, and there may be more next year. If your General Chen is willing to let Indians work in silver mines."

Martyn chuckled, shrugged his shoulders and said, "But he doesn't want to, maybe next year or the year after that, the output will drop, it's unavoidable, and the drop in output is not good for you, 15.00% of the minted income belongs to you. "

Baiyin made Luo Shangzhi extremely curious about Potosí, but it was obviously not a good time to chat, so he appeased his subordinates first, ordered everyone to go to the deck, and told them to go back to Changsheng Port before they could get off the ship after being searched, so he told them not to Move any crooked thoughts.

Afterwards, Matyen walked onto the deck with him, greedily breathing the fresh air at the bow, and then asked, "Why is the production declining?"

Although he was equally curious about the Indians, and he hadn't been in Changsheng for long, it was obviously Chen Mu's business, so he shouldn't ask too much.

"People are dying too fast, and there are no new people. Peru is so big, and it is completely surrounded by you. Panama, Chile, Brazil... There are no new people, and the production will naturally drop. Don't look at me like that, look. Looks like someone who would kill a lot."

"What can I do? Six thousand and five hundred fires are lit on the mountain every night. Mercury poison makes no grass grow in six leagues. For those soulless beasts of burden, going to the mines is their best destination. They worship The gods are blasphemy against Jesus."

The Spaniards, even the Spaniards who had never fought against the Ming army in Peru, also had enough fear of the Ming army.

It was as if Matien could think of the scene where he picked up two Spanish soldiers and threw them out when he saw Luo Shangzhi's extremely burly body.

It seems that a person like this should not have sympathy in his eyes like a pedantic monk.

Luo Shangzhi just shook his head.

Mining is a very dangerous business. The Zhejiang soldiers in the Shenji Battalion under his command are very aware of this truth. Many of them were mountain owners and miners in the past. They didn't die like this, not like the Spaniard in front of him said, tens of thousands died.

That's not mining, that's mass murder.

"We are getting closer and closer to Changsheng, and soon there will be a patrol fleet to escort us." Luo Shangzhi left the side of the ship, he did not want to continue the topic, he believed that all the information he wanted could be found in the Chen Muna from Changsheng County got the answer, he just said to the Spaniards: "I don't mean to sympathize, you really should treat them better."

Before leaving, on the Spaniard's boat, he once again shook his head contemptuously and cursed in a low voice.

"Idiot who worships evil gods, there is no salvation..."

Luo Shangzhi no longer cared about the silver in the cabin that was about to become Daming's property. What he wanted to do most now was to go to Changsheng to give Chen Mu a suggestion that Asia and the shared Asian region should govern the country by law and implement the law of Ming Dynasty.

"Law of the Great Ming Dynasty" prohibits the crime of mastering witchcraft and sorcery. Anyone who pretends to descend on evil gods, writes spells on water, and supports Luan to pray to the saints will have his head hanged.

Just this group of guys who pretend to descend evil gods and write spells and water, one counts as one, no more, no less, three thousand miles, all of them have to be spanked and thrown into the sea.

(End of this chapter)