Chapter 293 Trade Negotiations (2)
Fujian in the Ming Dynasty was one of my country's important silk fabric producing areas. As early as 1439, the imperial court set up a weaving and dyeing bureau in Quanzhou to produce tributes for the royal family. Later, during the Jingtai period, Biheng, the magistrate of Fuzhou, also set up a weaving and dyeing bureau locally. According to the records of Fuzhou Prefecture, at that time, Fuzhou had to pay tribute of 425 feet of silk and satin to the royal family every year, and the raw silk used was 1,328 kilograms, all of which was apportioned by the counties under the rule. Pay. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the silk weaving industry in Jiangnan gradually emerged, and its technical level and output greatly surpassed that of Fujian. This directly led to the decline of Fujian's government-run silk weaving industry.
However, the decline of the government-run silk fabric industry does not mean that the local silk fabric market has shrunk because of it. On the contrary, in the early Ming Dynasty, most Fujian people used ramie to make clothes and did not consume much silk fabrics. But by the late Ming Dynasty, silk clothing became standard clothing for young people. For example, it is recorded in "Taining County Chronicle": "The only product of Tai is ramie. Besides ramie, every trace of wadding must be easy to come out. Nowadays, the children of the rich people must wear silk clothes, red and purple colors, long sleeves and big belts, and they are proud of themselves." . One person advocates it, and ten people follow it, which is extremely extravagant.”
Similar records are also recorded in detail in "Quanzhou Prefecture Chronicles". Especially in coastal areas, this change in clothing habits is even more significant. Changes in consumption habits have prevented Fujian's silk market from shrinking due to the decline of the government-run silk weaving industry. On the contrary, it has greatly expanded among the private sector. Since Fujian's production is limited, a large amount of raw silk and silk are imported from Jiangnan every year. In "Batong Fujian Chronicles", "Xinghua Prefecture Chronicles" and "Anhai Chronicles", there are records of wealthy Fujian merchants purchasing large quantities of silk fabrics from Jiangnan. Tang Zhen, a thinker in the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty, once wrote: "Wu silk clothes all over the world gathered in Shuanglin, Wu, Yue, and Fujian all came to the island to market. In May, they arrived with silver, and they were piled up like rubble. The villages in southern Wu were full of people every year. The total amount of cotton and silk imported from Jiangnan during this period can be called astronomical.
Of course, these raw silk and silk fabrics are not completely digested by the local market, and export is also one of their important destinations. Through the three major foreign trade ports of Fuzhou, Quanzhou and Zhangzhou, Fujian's silk fabrics were exported to Japan and European markets in large quantities. Due to the Japanese pirate problem, the Ming Dynasty banned trade with Japan for a long time, and Japanese merchants even had to go to Southeast Asian markets to buy Chinese silk. Smart Portuguese businessmen purchased silk fabrics in Guangzhou and shipped them to Japan via Macau for sale. The annual quantity ranged from one to three thousand tons.
In the last two decades of the 16th century, half of the silver produced in Japan was exported abroad, and most of it went into the pockets of the Portuguese. According to recorded historical data in the 38 years from 1599 to 1637, Portuguese merchants shipped more than 50 million taels of silver from Nagasaki, and the vast majority of this silver passed through the port of Macau and entered the Ming Dynasty and was exchanged for Silk fabrics and other goods.
The situation in Europe is different. Western countries introduced sericulture from China as early as the Middle Ages. At this time, countries such as Spain and Italy in southern Europe had strong silk fabric production capabilities. However, because the price of raw silk in Europe is very expensive, it is far less cost-effective to organize raw silk for production in the European market than to import raw silk from distant China. Therefore, the main import target of European businessmen is raw silk as raw material, not finished silk fabrics.
Regarding this situation, He Qiaoyuan, a historian in the late Ming Dynasty, once commented on the Spaniards and the Dutch: "The two barbarians are all fond of Chinese silk and satin. Their soil does not have silkworms, so they can only use Chinese silk. When the lake silk arrives there, it can be woven into fine satin, chiselled like flowers and scales, and it is thought to be beautiful. Therefore, a hundred pounds of Chinese lake silk is worth a hundred and two taels of silver, and the price it gets there is two to three hundred taels. ”
The profits made by the Dutch from purchasing raw silk from Fujian are also considerable. Currently, Xu Xinsu, the largest foreign trade supplier of raw silk in Fujian, supplies raw silk to the Dutch at about 140 taels per load. Not only is the transaction limited in time, but it also has to be purchased first. The Dutch are still eager to collect advance deposits. But after these raw silks are shipped to Japan, the profit will be at least doubled. The price of raw silk in Manila is one hundred taels per load higher than in Taiwan. In order to obtain more raw silk, the Spanish even took the risk of crossing the Pacific Ocean every year to transport silver directly from the South American colonies to East Asia to purchase goods.
However, during this period, the local raw silk production in Fujian was not actually large, and the quality of Fujian silk was not as good as that of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. The main raw materials for the silk weaving industry came from Huzhou, Zhejiang, and the production centers were mainly concentrated in the three foreign trade ports of Fuzhou, Quanzhou, and Zhangzhou. . Fuzhou specializes in the four-layer fabric "modified machine brocade". Quanzhou is famous for its rich variety of silk fabrics, while Zhangzhou is characterized by its ability to imitate. The most famous domestic Su silk and Lu silk can be imitated in Zhangzhou, even from abroad. The velvet that flowed in the opposite direction quickly became a "copycat" in Zhangzhou. It can be said to be the "Huaqiangbei" in the silk weaving industry.
At this time, although the status of the private silk weaving industry in Fujian was not as high as that of Wuyue in the south of the Yangtze River, it was still considered one of the important production areas in the country. Xu Guangqi quoted Guo Zizhang, an important minister of the two dynasties, in his "Agricultural Policy Complete Book": "The opportunity of the southeast lies in the three Wu and Fujian provinces. , The most popular group in Yue, get the cocoon from Yuhu. " Chuanchuan Group has been developing the idea of sericulture industry and silk fabric trade since the end of last year. Although Wuyue is good, it is a little far away, while Fujian is relatively much closer. Of course, the most critical point is that there is Xu Xinsu, a super local snake in Fujian, who can be exploited.
When the Executive Committee decided to export weapons to support Xu Xinsu's resistance to the "Eighteen Zhi" more than half a year ago, it had some intention of using Xu Xinsu to gain convenience in Fujian in the future. With the advancement of the construction process in Sanya, the Executive Committee finally began to have enough energy to pay attention to some projects that did not have the conditions for development at the beginning of the time-travel - such as sericulture and related sericulture that require silkworm seeds adapted to the current time and space environment. silk weaving industry.
Although Fujian's silkworm breeds and silk are not as good as those in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Fujian's silkworm breeds are better adaptable to Hainan's tropical monsoon climate and are more practical for the crossing group. People from the Ministry of Agriculture have expressed their position to the Executive Committee. As long as they can carry out breeding and reproduction in one or two years, they should be able to cultivate local silkworm breeds suitable for Hainan's climate - of course, this is almost an ideal progress. , the actual progress depends not only on the progress of Fujian, but also on the development status of Chuanchuan Group on Hainan Island, because the areas suitable for sericulture are mostly in the central and northern parts, and currently do not belong to Chuanchuan Group. sphere of influence.
Of course, at the beginning, we still have to solve any problems first. Breeding and promotion can be carried out slowly. Anyway, the current problem of Chuan Chuan Group is not that there are no export channels, but that various products have serious insufficient production capacity. It will not be possible for a while. The production of silk fabrics needed to be counted on to revitalize the economy.
Dong Yanyun's answer is not particularly exaggerated. The time Xu Xinsu transports raw silk to the Dutch every year is probably before the Haihan militia went to Vietnam. Now that a month has passed, Xu Xinsu sells all the raw silk on hand. There are almost 7788. It is definitely hopeless to purchase bulk goods from Fujian at this time.
Dong Yanyun didn't want these three people to think that he was looking for excuses, so he continued: "If you are really interested in purchasing silk fabrics, I can try to purchase them from Jiangsu and Zhejiang on your behalf, but it will take longer and the price will probably be higher. High..."
"Mr. Dong, we don't plan to buy raw silk or silk fabrics for the time being. What we want is local silkworm seeds in Fujian." Tao Donglai made his intention clear.
"Silkworm seeds?" Dong Yanyun was stunned for a moment before saying: "Are you planning to... plant mulberry and raise silkworms in Yazhou?"
"Where we raise sericulture is not the point. The point is whether you can provide us with the help we need." Tao Donglai was not interested in discussing technical details with Dong Yanyun.
"This... is not difficult to do, but what are the specific requirements?" Dong Yanyun secretly breathed a sigh of relief. It was much easier to send silkworm seeds than to shipwrights, and there was no need to worry about affecting his own industry.
As for whether the Haihan people really breed sericulture on Qiongzhou Island, and the production of raw silk will have an impact on Fujian's silk industry, Dong Yanyun is not worried at all - both silk fabrics and raw silk are in short supply in the Fujian market. If Haihan people If the Han people can really make things happen, then Fujian will be able to have a stable source of goods in the future, so why not?
Tao Donglai took out a piece of paper and handed it to Dong Yanyun: "This is our request for silkworm seeds."
Dong Yanyun looked at it and saw that several silkworm seed production areas were specifically designated on it, and it also stated which growth stage of silkworm seed was needed and the required quantity. In addition, mulberry trees from various places must also be sent one-to-one tree seeds for selection. In addition, the Haihan people also proposed to hire a number of skilled sericulture farmers from Fujian's sericulture areas, a number of weavers familiar with silk fabric making techniques, loom samples, etc. Although the entries are a bit cumbersome, the requirements are not excessive. After all, they are all related to the sericulture industry.
After reading it, Dong Yanyun nodded slightly and said: "It is not difficult for you to ask for these items. I can agree to it now. After returning, we will prepare these items and send them to Victory Port as soon as possible."
"That's best. After receiving the silkworm seeds from you, we will give you a certain amount of arms procurement share as appropriate." Tao Donglai was also quite satisfied with Dong Yanyun's answer, but that didn't end there. Even if it's over: "There is one more thing. We have a relatively large demand. I hope you can try to provide us with the supply." "Mr. Tao, please tell me!" Dong Yanyun has now figured out the way of the Haihan people, thinking If you want to buy their arms, you must first agree to a series of exchange conditions, otherwise you won't be able to buy them even with cash.
"We heard that Xu Daguan has a lot of trade contacts in Japan, so we hope to import copper ore from Japan through Xu Daguan." Tao Donglai paused and emphasized: "We can exchange copper for us ”
Dong Yanyun's eyes suddenly lit up when he heard this: "Really? Mr. Tao, please don't amuse yourself!"
"As long as it's copper ingots with good purity, you can get as much as you want!" Tao Donglai immediately gave him another reassurance.
In the industrial construction of the Crossing Group, copper is needed as raw material in quite a few places, but the copper reserves brought during the crossing are very limited, and it will definitely be difficult to meet the needs of industrialization. The only copper mine on Hainan Island is in Shilu. Due to the large demand, the local development plan is still on paper and will not be officially implemented for a while. During this period, the largest exporter of copper in East Asia was Japan.
As an island country with poor mineral resources, Japan is lucky enough to have relatively rich copper resources. Large and small copper deposits, including Ashio Copper Mountain and Besshi Copper Mountain, are evenly distributed from Kanto to Shikoku and Kyushu. The geological belt, which is about 800 kilometers long and dozens of kilometers wide, has very rich reserves. During the Ming Dynasty, Japan exported a large amount of brass to the Ming Dynasty. By the 1780s, Japan's copper output once ranked first in the world. Therefore, when the executive committee was thinking about copper mines, it immediately thought of Japan as a source of goods.
However, poor mineral resources will still be a disadvantage after all. Although Japan produces gold, silver and copper, it lacks the tin ore to cast bronze. Therefore, they even lack the ability to cast copper coins themselves - the hardness of pure copper is too soft, and preservation is a big problem. . Therefore, Japan had to export brass to the Ming Dynasty every year, and then exchange it for copper coins cast by the Ming Dynasty at a discount for domestic circulation. Until Toyotomi Hideyoshi unified Japan at the end of the 16th century, the main circulating copper coins in Japan were still "Yongle Tongbao".
Anyone with a little economic sense can imagine how profitable the coinage business is. However, Chuanchuan Group plans to import a large amount of copper, not to mint it and then sell it back to Japan, but to actually use it for the development of its own industry.
The most urgent ones are the Military Police Department and the Shipping Department. The bronze cannons to be developed by the military industry department and the corrosion-resistant "naval brass" required by the shipyards all require a large amount of copper as raw materials for production. Tin, another metal in the alloy used to make these items, has been found by the Guangdong Office in mainland China. It is the "Haifeng Hao" trading company from Huizhou Prefecture. Currently, more than ten tons of tin ore arrive from Huizhou every month. Guangzhou and then transshipped to Shengli Port. And these tin ores have already begun to be put to use - the production department has trial-produced a batch of lead-tin alloy last month to make movable type for printing. As long as the chemical department's printing ink trial production is successful, self-printing can begin Some promotional materials and literacy books.
In addition, the power coverage area, mainly Tiandu Industrial Zone, also requires a large amount of copper to erect transmission lines. At present, the electricity used in Base No. 1 and the port area still relies mainly on photovoltaics, which is obviously not in line with the Executive Committee's goal of building Victory Port into a "livable town." As for the use of copper in machinery, metallurgy, and light industry, it is even more extensive. To put it more seriously, if the supply of copper cannot be solved well, it will be enough to slow down the industrialization process of Chuanchuan Group for several years.
Comparing the price of copper in the Ming Dynasty at this time, although the import from Japan was relatively far away, even with transportation costs, it was still about one-third lower than that in the Ming Dynasty. If you buy in bulk, the cost can be spread down a lot, which is a very cost-effective deal for a large copper consumer like Chuanchuan Group.
However, Dong Yanyun still has some doubts about this: "My master did have a lot of trade relations with Japan in the early years, but in recent years, the Japanese are more willing to do business with the red-haired people. We may need to wait until we return to Fujian to inquire about further news." .”
Dong Yanyun's words were confusing, but the three people here understood the meaning behind the words. At first, the great merchant Li Dan controlled the vast majority of Japan's trade with the Ming Dynasty. After Li Dan's death, Xu Xinsu and Zheng Zhilong inherited his inheritance in mainland China and Taiwan respectively, and Japan's resources were also divided between the two families. Now that Xu Xinsu and Zheng Zhilong are fighting fiercely, the Japanese side, as an outsider, will naturally sit back and watch the fight. At this juncture, if Xu Xinsu seeks out the Japanese for large-scale transactions, the other party's attitude will be more unpredictable.
Ning Qi then answered: "Mr. Dong, in order to show our sincerity, I will give you a fortune. Have you ever heard of Hamada Yahei?"
Dong Yanyun shook his head and said: "I have only been active in Fuguang, Jiangsu and Zhejiang. I don't know much about Japan. I would like to hear more details."
Ning Qi briefly told him about Hamada. Hamada Yahei was a Japanese maritime merchant who had a conflict with the Dutch East India Company when he went to Taiwan to buy raw silk in 1626. When Hamada returned to Japan the next year, he met with Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu and tried to persuade Jiang. The shogunate rebelled against the Dutch. In the spring of 1628, Hamada once again led hundreds of Japanese to Taiwan. This time, the Dutch came directly to deal with them. A large number of weapons and gunpowder were taken from the ship, and all the people, ships and cargo were detained. Hamada himself Also imprisoned.
Ning Qi stopped when he said this. Dong Yanyun looked at him confused and said, "Why don't Mr. Ning continue?"
Ning Qi thought to himself that the next thing has not happened yet, how could I just reveal the secret? At that moment, Ning Qi coughed dryly and said: "After Mr. Dong returns, he can remind Xu Daguan people to pay attention to the changes in Taiwan. If everything goes well, within this year, whether they are Japanese or red-haired people, they will take the initiative to seek Xu Daguan people's door." ”
Dong Yanyun wondered: "Why did Mr. Ning say this?"
Ning Qi smiled mysteriously and said: "This is a secret, it must not be leaked!"
Ning Qi pretends to be a god, but actually this matter is worthless if you put it bluntly. After being imprisoned in Taiwan for several days, Hamada and his men took force and broke into the residence of Peter, the Dutch administrator in Taiwan, and took his son as a hostage, and then returned to Japan together. After Hamada returned to Japan, he immediately imprisoned Peter's son and closed the Dutch business store in Hirado, Japan. After that, the trade between Japan and the Netherlands was interrupted. It was not until 1629 that the headquarters of the East India Company, which was deeply aware of the seriousness of the situation, ordered Peter to be removed from his post and sentenced him to two years in prison. This was not over yet. It was not until the Dutch escorted Peter to Japan in 1632 that he was handed over to the shogunate for imprisonment, and trade between the two sides was restored.
(End of chapter)