Chapter 3468
The attitude of the Kandy Kingdom was beyond Takahashi Minami's expectations. In the original plan, the Kingdom of Kandy, which existed on the island of Ceylon as an indigenous government, was also one of the objects that Haihan needed to be wary of.
After all, the Kingdom of Kandy has been fighting against the Portuguese invasion for hundreds of years, and it can still fight on the battlefield, which shows the resilience of the indigenous races and their determination to fight.
Qian Tiandun and Gao Qiaonan both believed that such an indigenous kingdom would most likely not accept Haihan entering the area, and would most likely regard Haihan as another intruder. However, they never expected that after entering Ceylon Island, the situation would turn out This is how it will go.
However, it can be judged from this that the senior officials of the Kandy Kingdom are not ignorant of Haihan. They must have heard of Haihan's reputation in the South China Sea, so they also want to try to turn Haihan into a helper.
It's just that they may not know the relationship between Haihan and Portugal and the Netherlands. The practice of burning incense at temples may not work well here in Haihan.
Takahashi Nan politely rejected the other party's request, saying only that Haihan's entry into Ceylon was not to invade the territory of the Kingdom of Kandy, and he had no interest in intervening in disputes between the Kingdom of Kandy and other countries.
But if the Kingdom of Kandy is willing to open trade channels with Haihan, then Haihan will be happy to sell various goods to it - including of course the steel products that the other party urgently needs.
The island of Ceylon is short of iron and coal, and has almost no large-scale smelting industry, so both weapons and armor are scarce resources for the Kingdom of Kandy, which is locked in a long-term war.
The most valuable asset in the Kingdom of Kandy is the large and small gem mines. Although gemstones have no practical value for the industrial civilization that Haihan is obsessed with, they have extremely high economic value as natural jewelry.
Whether in the East or the West, luxury goods made of gemstones have always been a favorite of princes, nobles and wealthy merchants.
The Kingdom of Kandy also makes use of this special product to obtain various needed materials, including weapons and equipment, from the outside world through trade channels.
However, the relevant trade channels are not stable. From time to time, Portugal will blockade several ports under the jurisdiction of the Kingdom of Kandy from the sea and attack the ships that transport goods to it. Therefore, fewer and fewer trading partners are willing to deliver goods across the sea. .
The prices of these supplies will also rise as the situation becomes tense, forcing the Kingdom of Kandy, which lacks maritime transport capacity, to grit its teeth and endure the exploitation of foreign businessmen.
For a long time before this, the main trading partner of the Kingdom of Kandy was the Dutch. But as the Dutch also began to covet the territory of the Kingdom of Kandy, the relationship between the two parties began to become tense, and the scale and frequency of transactions gradually decreased.
At this time, there was suddenly a new trade channel provided by Haihan. For the Kingdom of Kandy, which was suffering from a shortage of supplies, this was a great thing.
The envoy from the Kingdom of Kandy was overjoyed. After asking for a list of goods from Takahashi Nan, he went back to resume his duties.
A few days later, the Kingdom of Kandy sent someone to visit again. This time, the person who came was not an ordinary official, but the cousin of its King Rajsinghe II, Prince Rajbwa, who was in charge of trade. .
After meeting with Takahashi Nan, Rajbwa put forward his request straight to the point, hoping to use gems produced in the Kingdom of Kandy to trade weapons and equipment, medicines, and various daily necessities on the commodity list with Haihan.
Rajbowa showed Takahashi Nan the gem samples he had brought, a pallet full of various colored gemstones, and asked Takahashi Nan to check the quality in person. Even though Takahashi Minami has traveled extensively and seen a lot of the world, this is the first time he has played with so many gems. There are both completely natural gem embryos and finished products that have been cut and polished.
Rajbwa proudly explained the types and prices of these gems to Takahashi Minami, and also gave him some relevant knowledge.
From this, Takahashi Minami learned that although there were at least a dozen colors of gems on the tray, there were actually only two types: ruby and sapphire. Gemstones of other colors except red were collectively referred to in the industry as sapphire.
The purer the gemstone, the brighter its color, the larger it is, and the higher its value.
However, the craftsmanship of local craftsmen is obviously limited to the cutting and polishing of gemstones. As for further processing, such as the ability to combine gold and silver to make jewelry, they are basically not equipped.
Gao Qiaonan believes that this is probably also affected by local natural conditions. After all, there is almost no gold and silver produced on the island of Ceylon. These precious metal raw materials must rely on external input, and the quantity is extremely limited. Of course, it is difficult for local craftsmen to be good at processing. .
However, in terms of skilled craftsmen, there were indeed many under the rule of Haihan. If these natural gems were sent back to the country for fine processing, the value of the luxury goods would be at least several times higher.
Regarding the trading project, the two parties hit it off immediately, and the next content of the meeting was to determine a value standard for the gems that both parties could accept, so that the transaction could be carried out by barter.
After Li Yuande followed the vanguard to Ceylon Island a few days ago, he insisted on staying here instead of returning to Phuket with the fleet. Now he had to do business with the Kingdom of Kandy, and his expertise came in handy. Takahashi Nan gave him the task of bargaining.
Rajbwa hoped that Haihan could provide him with "advanced weapons" such as muskets and artillery without restrictions, but this was obviously an unrealistic request.
Although there is a conflict of interest between Haihan, Portugal and the Netherlands on the island of Ceylon, the parties have not yet broken up with each other. If Haihan provides arms to the Kingdom of Kandy that can affect the direction of the war, it will indeed violate the agreement signed with these two countries. diplomatic agreement.
But of course this was not a problem for Li Yuande, who was determined to make a deal. After consulting Takahashi Nan, he proposed another plan to Rajbowa.
Haihan can provide various steel blanks to the Kandy Kingdom. As for how the Kandy Kingdom takes them back and processes them, and what kind of things they make, that has nothing to do with Haihan.
In short, Haihan does not sell finished products, so even if Portugal and the Netherlands capture the weapons of Kandy soldiers on the battlefield in the future, they will definitely not be industrial products mass-produced by Haihan.
Although this is somewhat inconvenient, it is already a quite feasible solution for the Kandy Kingdom, which lacks steel. What's more, the price of steel blanks is several times cheaper than finished products, which means that the Kingdom of Kandy can save a lot of money.
Compared with the attitude of the Dutch and the British who were eager to drain the Kingdom of Kandy of its oil and water, the transaction method proposed by Haihan was quite kind. After only one day of negotiations, Rajbwa negotiated a deal with Haihan that included 3,000 pieces of steel blanks.
As one of the conditions for cooperation between the two parties, the Kingdom of Kandy will acquiesce to Haihan's construction of a base in the Hambantota area and the recruitment of local people to work for him through legal means.