William Janes pushed open the cabin door and shouted eagerly: "My child, good luck has come."

It is already the second day that the Lady Jacob has been stationed at Hongji Port.

Since Hon Kei Port is under construction, there are not many docks that can simultaneously supply the fleet, local transport ships and foreign armed merchant ships. Therefore, after entering the port the day before, the Dutch ship was designated to anchor at a water surface in Hon Kei Bay.

As a result, it is inconvenient to unload personnel and materials, and they need to be transported in bulk by small boats.

Fortunately, the Lady Jacob is only temporarily docked for supplies this time. The ship's ultimate destination is Macau and Tainan, and there is no need to unload cargo in Hongji.

Early the next morning, William Janes disembarked from the ship and looked for a way out, leaning on the short cane that the Travelers had given him when he was recovering from his injuries.

But when he came back at noon, he shouted loudly: "My child, good luck has come!"

Old William brought back a lot of news.

The first news: The Eastern Earl's private army conquered the indigenous kingdom not long ago and signed a trade agreement with the local king.

The second news: Because of the above-mentioned news, a large number of officials under the earl arrived here-among them happened to be old William's friends.

The third news: After meeting his friends in the military, old William got a request to unload the goods in advance.

Fourth: There will be a banquet at noon tomorrow, and Old William has been invited.

The first of these pieces of news is of little significance to William and Crowley. They are private maritime merchants, and their current social position does not require them to care about the geopolitics of East Asia and the resulting international consequences.

Relationship changes.

The next few pieces of news will affect their vital interests!

Especially Crowley.

In fact, before this, Crowley was already at the end of his rope.

——————————————————————————————

When Crowley set out from England, the goods he carried were traditional British exports in the seventeenth century: textiles.

Britain was in the early stages of "sheep eating people". During this period, there were no global trade lines and no major commodities. What British merchants were selling around the world were woolen linen and other goods.

Crowley was no exception. As a businessman, before he went to sea, he exchanged all the capital he had started for woolen linen and cotton, and then took a ship to go to sea.

After he took a boat all the way to Surat, the information he collected along the way told him that in hot South Asia, the sales of certain textiles were not good.

Especially when the market is still facing competition from the Dutch, Portuguese and Spanish.

In the end, Crowley could only cut the meat and ship it, and sell some of the goods to other merchants at a fair price. In this way, including the cost of long-distance transportation, the small businessman Crowley had invisibly lost 1/4 of his original capital.

.

It was only then that Crowley discovered that the high-end abilities such as literature, poetry, eloquence, etc. that he had been proud of in the first half of his life were of little use in the business market.

Fortunately, not long after, Crowley learned about William Janes from the merchant house. So he took a boat to Batavia.

In Batavia, Crowley met the man of his destiny as he wished: William Sr.

After reading the letter, old William lamented for a while, and immediately recognized Crowley as his nephew: the old baron had saved old William's life on the battlefield.

After this, Crowley, who was on the verge of bankruptcy, finally turned around.

First, under old William's advice...actually "order", he quickly sold out all the goods on hand and recovered funds.

Next, he followed old William on board "his family's ship": old William had just bought one-third of the ownership of the Lady Jacob.

Afterwards, Crowley returned to India on a ship and stayed in several cities along the Indian coast for half a year. During this period, Crowley spent all his funds on purchasing goods specified by Old William.

In other words, the goods parked in the Lady Jacob's warehouse are Crowley's last move.

However, old William brought good news today: after learning about the situation, old friends in the army asked the Lady Jacob to unload the cargo in advance.

"Thank the Almighty Lord! Uncle William, this is really good news. Finally, we no longer have to smell the smell of feces!"

The first time he heard the news, Crowley made the sign of the cross on his chest.

Old William laughed loudly: "Crowley, my poor Crowley, who came to the cabin from the banquet...you still have a lot to learn. The point is, now, you are a businessman, so

You shouldn’t discriminate against horse manure, it smells like money!”

Yes, the most important cargo in the hold of the Old Lady Jacob is thirty Wari horses.

The Marwari horse is an excellent horse breed in India. This is an elegant and strong medium-height horse. Its cultivation and use by humans can be traced back to the battlefields of the Middle Ages.

The Marwari horse is the offspring of a cross between an Arabian horse and a Turkmenistan horse. This horse was once used as a cavalry horse, accompanying its owner to capture cities in Central Asia.

Since the Turkmen horse was once the military horse of Alexander the Great, its descendants, the Marwari horse, are also particularly suitable for surviving in arid and barren areas.

This advantage of the Marwari horse is very important to the army. Because the future imperial cavalry regiment will inevitably chase the north in the Gobi, desert and outside the Great Wall, the Marwari horse is an important horse in the army's cavalry plan.

kind of reserve.

Therefore, when the army stationed at Fort Hongji learned that there was a stallion on Old William's ship, they immediately sent a report to Guangzhou and Tainan, asking the racecourse to immediately send someone to Hongji to take over the horses.

The army's eagerness was not unfounded. In the seventeenth century, sailing ship transportation conditions were poor. The total number of horses purchased by Old William was actually thirty-six. However, during the voyage, the horses required fodder and a large amount of fresh water, which were both lacking on the ship. In addition,

The health situation is also not optimistic.

Therefore, even if she tried her best along the way, when Mrs. Jacob arrived at Hongji, six horses had already died, and the remaining thirty horses were not in good condition.

Therefore, the Army requested that the cargo be unloaded quickly and the horses be brought to the shore for recuperation. After a period of time when the horses recovered, the Army would arrange for more professional ships to transport the horses away.

The Army did not want to suffer the loss of any more stallions.

The time-traveling forces with the advantage of information technology move very quickly. Soon after Old William returned, several traffic boats came to the Dutch ship berth to communicate. At the same time, the army and navy here had completed the communication, and originally docked at the main dock of Hongji

A warship immediately raised its sails and set sail, making way for the Dutch ship to berth.

After the Dutch ship arrived at the busy dock, it was an extremely busy scene: a continuous stream of coal transport teams, and a large number of workers setting up cement foundation piles in the cofferdam.

Later, after the first horse was pushed out of the cabin, Mr. Crowley saw the legendary machinery for the first time: a crane operated by a set of steam power systems, which gently and smoothly lifted the horse from the ship.

The head crane was loaded to the dock.

"Wow, amazing mechanical power!"

Crowley was an educated man who had studied mathematics and Leonardo da Vinci's geometry, so he did not rely on God and theology in everything like old William, but he immediately realized the key to the problem: the power of the crane.

But he couldn't observe what he wanted to see, because the entire power system was hidden in a small house on the dock. Except for the black smoke coming from the roof, Crowley couldn't see anything.

In a foreign land, he still understood the principle of being cautious in his words and actions. So in the end Crowley just suppressed his doubts and curiosity in his heart.

The mechanical system was very efficient, and it took about two hours for the horses in the cabin to be transferred to the shore.

Then old William took two dark-skinned Indian grooms ashore, went through the handover procedures with the army, and handed them over to the army, including the man and the horse.

Crowley stood on the bow of the ship and carefully observed the Eastern soldiers. These soldiers were uniformly wearing green thin cotton jackets with copper buttons, trousers that were considered "loose" compared to the European soldiers, and shiny short black leather shoes.

Judging from the various shiny metal objects on the soldiers, as well as the neat formations and firearms, at the very least, it is certain that their masters have a lot of wealth.

This is also consistent with the information Crowley collected before. Old William told him that the Earl of the East had an extremely large private domain and abundant finances.

Finally, after being tapped on the shoulder a few times by an officer wearing a strange military cap whose face could not be seen clearly, old William happily returned to the ship.

After closing the hatch, Old William showed the short receipt with a proud look on his face: "The hot horses were finally taken in by their owners before they died. Crowley, our next step is to go to Guangzhou to collect the reward."

That’s it! Thank God for giving good luck to the devout people!”

Crowley couldn't help but feel a little worried when he saw William looking so relaxed. He was a little suspicious of the three-finger-wide note... even though the paper was made of very white and crisp paper and was of high quality.

goods.

So Crowley asked cautiously: "Uncle William, are you sure you can use this, um, 'rudimentary' note to get our payment for goods in Macau?"

"My child, you are still young and have experienced too little." Old William put away the note carefully and said: "The territory of the Eastern Earl has the most honest administrative system in the world. I know what you are worried about, don't worry

Well, you will know more about the Earldom when you arrive in Macau."

"Oh. So, Uncle William, what do we do next?"

"Next? Haha."

Old William wiped the upturned beard at the corner of his mouth with his thumb, which was a small gesture when he was in a happy mood: "Since the ship is parked at the dock, and since Old William has big friends here, we can go into the city and wash up first.

Take a bath and relax... There will be a banquet hosted by the master in the evening. This is a good opportunity for us to receive the next commission. I will take you to attend!"
Chapter completed!