Chapter 3043
January 1657, Jinshan Port on the west coast of North America.
It was cold and windy, but the fishing boats that went out to sea in the early morning had completed their fishing operations for the day and returned to the fishing port when the sun rose.
Fishermen lined up to deliver fresh seafood in bamboo baskets to the shore. After a brief sorting, they started selling them on the nearby pier.
Most of the customers who negotiate the price based on the whole basket are local restaurant owners or chefs. They wait at the fishing port pier very early every day in order to buy the freshest ingredients as possible.
However, in the face of their bargaining prices, the fishermen seemed very calm and were in no rush to sell their hard-earned catch.
It's winter and the temperature is low, so these seafood will stay fresh for a little longer after being caught out of the water. You don't have to worry about it not being sold in the morning and it will spoil quickly.
Moreover, local housewives usually come to the fishing port to purchase after breakfast time. Their purchasing power cannot be underestimated, and the retail price will be higher than wholesale to restaurants.
As for some higher-value seafood, fishermen will specially select it and raise it in pools filled with seawater to keep it as fresh as possible, so that they can be sold at ideal prices to wealthy dignitaries in the city. Noble person.
It was freezing cold, and some customers who didn't want to spend any time simply paid for their goods and left. But there are also some people who think the fishermen's offer is unacceptable. They would rather spend more time negotiating the price, or wait for the next batch of fishing boats to return to port.
Generally speaking, local indigenous fishermen return to port later due to differences in fishing boats, fishing gear, and fishing skills.
Moreover, because many indigenous fishermen do not speak Chinese well, they often cannot communicate well with customers and do not understand the market conditions well, so they can only sell their catch at extremely low prices.
As long as they are willing to wait a little longer, the Han fishermen will take the initiative to lower their prices to avoid being robbed of business by the indigenous fishermen who do not know how to do business.
Sure enough, as the first batch of customers gradually dispersed, several more fishing boats appeared on the sea. It's just that their appearance is obviously different from Chinese sailing boats. To be precise, they are not sailing boats, but large canoes.
These slender canoes are tilted at both ends and rely on fishermen to paddle wooden oars manually. There is a wooden totem erected on the bow of each ship, and colorful patterns are painted on the hull. It does not look like a production tool, but more like some kind of gaudy display.
After the leading canoe slowly docked, the fisherman standing on the bow stepped onto the pier in one stride, bent down and tied the cable in his hand to the bitt on the shore.
These indigenous people all have dark complexions, thin bodies, and long braided hair, but their eyebrows and hair are all the same black as the Han people. The clothes on his body are all made of cattle, sheep or wild animal skins, and the accessories he wears are all kinds of animal teeth, which look quite wild.
The seafood they brought was packed in large rattan dustpans, and the quantity was much smaller than what the Han fishermen harvested. They unloaded it onto the shore and set up a stall near the boat.
One of them took out a cowhide tambourine, beat it and made a rhythmic shout while walking around the stall.
Although this posture looks a bit like a dancing master, regular visitors to the fishing port pier know that this is how indigenous fishermen attract customers. These indigenous fishermen will only express their asking price to customers with gestures and drawings. As long as the customer's counter-offer is not ridiculously low, the transaction can often be concluded smoothly.
They quickly finished today's harvest at a low price, but they did not leave the dock immediately. Instead, they took the wad of banknotes they had just received and went to the grocery store near the dock to buy various supplies they needed.
Fishing nets, fish hooks, iron kitchen utensils, knives, farm tools, food, wine... They need to buy many supplies, most of which are tools to improve production efficiency.
However, the income from selling seafood is often unable to support their arbitrary purchases. For example, today's income is only enough for them to buy a long-awaited twine fishing net, so that the next time they go to sea, they may be able to catch twice as much fish as they do now.
With a little change left, some people chose to go to the tavern next to the grocery store for a glass of sweet wine to comfort themselves. Some people remembered their family members and bought a few fruit candies to take back. It is said that any child who has tasted these candies will like them very much.
There were also a few young people who were attracted by a notice posted at the street corner.
Of course they couldn't understand the text on the notice, but there was a native like them next to the notice who was introducing the content on the notice to them.
This is a recruitment notice. All healthy young men, regardless of race or origin, can sign up to join the army. In addition to generous military pay, those who serve in the army also receive land rewards. Foreigners can even obtain Haihan nationality, become glorious Haihan citizens and enjoy national treatment.
The native who introduced the contents of the notice to them proudly patted his stiff clothes, raised his feet to show off the shiny leather boots on his feet, and told them that these were all equipment issued after joining the army.
He then pointed to the portrait of the heavily armed Haihan soldiers on the notice and told them that this was the invincible Haihan army and a true warrior.
Of course, this is a redundant introduction. Who among the natives here who are just making a living have not seen the Haihan soldiers armed with live ammunition?
The first batch of Haihan people who landed on the Jinshan Peninsula four years ago were those ferocious Haihan soldiers. The muskets in their hands were far more lethal than bows and arrows. Even the bravest warriors in the tribe, holding the strongest cowhide shields, could not stop the projectiles fired from the barrels.
The two tribes that initially tried to drive these invaders from their territory were reduced to ashes and ceased to exist in just a few days.
And all their territory was taken over by these foreigners who called themselves Haihan people.
The indigenous people who can survive near the bay and are allowed to enter Jinshan Port are basically docile tribes that have surrendered to Haihan. The new rulers allowed them to retain their old way of life and part of their territory, and they could also obtain various living supplies they needed from Haihan through trade.
The fishermen who came to the fishing port today belong to the Tama tribe who live peacefully with Haihan. The Mir Valley where this tribe is located is only twenty miles away from Jinshan Port.
The two places face each other across the sea. In recent years, when the people of the Tama tribe went out to sea to fish, they could see that on the Jinshan Peninsula in the south, the Haihan people built a town at an extremely fast speed.
The Haihan people brought here not only a dazzling variety of commodities, but also a lifestyle that the indigenous people had never seen before. Soon some indigenous people were no longer satisfied with exchanging a few supplies through trade. They discovered that as long as they were willing to work for the Haihan people, they could easily obtain more supplies and a better way of life.
(End of chapter)