"Cheng Dawei went to Majiagang?"

Beiyang Yamen, Chen Mu slowly bowed his head to the guests who came to meet him with some surprise, and said: "It seems that this Wanli Mathematics Prize winner can't come, he went to Majiagang to do business, what kind of goods are he selling, does Brother Wu know?" ”

The person sitting opposite Chen Mu was named Wu Shouli, who was also a Huizhou businessman like Cheng Dawei, and two sons and nephews in his family were exceptionally promoted by Emperor Wanli to be subordinate officials of Guanglu Temple in Nanjing.

Because of the great drought in the north and the flood in the south a few years ago, when Zhao Shizhen took the disaster relief silver provided by the Nanyang Military Mansion to the imperial court, Wu Shouli, a wealthy businessman in Huizhou Mansion, also donated 200,000 taels of disaster relief silver to the imperial court to relieve the floods in the south of the river.

What does this mean?

This means that Wu Shouli, a businessman in the timber business in Huizhou, is richer than Chen Mu, and he is much richer.

This visit to Chen Mu, Wu Shouli also did enough courtesy, a few days in advance to submit a post, but also attached a brother-in-law Yang Yinglong's letter of introduction, the letter explained the source of Huizhou Wu's timber trade, his home in Huangshan Zixia Peak to Tangkou area of a large forest farm, in the Yangtze River basin business is very large, every year Banzhou to Nanzhi timber three are sold by Wu.

In addition to timber trading, it is also engaged in salt business, pawnshop and other transactions, but it is not the main business.

"Last year, he sold a boatload of rice to 4,000 miles and 100 households, and brought back a boatload of furs and more than 70 walrus tusks on the way back.

The 'Chen Buddha' in Wu Shouli's mouth is none other than Chen Ju, who has been to Majiagang.

He didn't actually do anything, but in this era, most eunuchs left the Forbidden City and extorted bribes in the local area, and the officials and post stations along the way had to be well served. However, Chen Ju went out of Kyoto several times not only did not harass the place, but also used the reward given to him by the imperial court to see where the road was not easy to walk along the way, so he paid some money to repair the road, and where the city god temple or temple was damaged, he paid for repair, so he was called Chen Buddha by the people.

Chen Mu sighed, there are still too few people in the world who understand, why is no one called Lao Tzu Buddha?

"It seems that Brother Cheng will not lose money this time."

Chen Mu has always been surprised that people who have done the arithmetic to the extreme can lose money in trading, and he also hopes that Cheng Dawei can make more money.

However, at this time, it still made him feel unhappy to hear that Cheng Dawei had purchased walrus ivory from 4,000 miles and 100 households...... The customs of the ports of the Great East Ocean should be established as soon as possible, and these Hui merchants have already smelled the way to make a fortune, and every tax that is missed in the future is to deduct meat from his second master Chen!

More than seventy walrus tusks, huh?

At least ten of them belong to his Oriental Military Mansion!

However, Chen Mu will not chase it, Cheng Dawei's coincidental rice loss this time is to solve the urgent need of those distressed flag troops, but when the supply of the flag army on the northern route is normalized, it can't be like this anymore.

Speaking of walrus tusks, Chen Ju brought back a lot of them from Ma Gui when he came back before, and he listened to Ma Gui's request to send these walrus tusks equal to the number of fallen flag soldiers to the homes of the fallen flag soldiers as a pension, one for each person.

"Brother Wu came to see Chen this time, and it took a lot of effort, and it took two months to go to Banzhou by letter alone, so Chen had to ask."

Chen Mu's left hand under the big sleeve of his official robe stretched out and said, "What is the meaning of the step?" ”

"I know that the Imperial Court Oriental Military Government is about to go to Armerica and Europa, although I am a businessman, I also intend to lose money to help serve the country, and I know that the Beiyang Military Government is not short of real money, so the Wu family purchased 177 brigs from my fellow villagers in Huizhou to invest in the Oriental Military Government for service."

Brigs, at least 300 seagoing ships, 177 ships?

One person, half of the first batch of missing baggage ships on Chen Mu's expedition to the East?

It is cheap to build a ship, and the cost of a 400-material lucky ship is only 70 to 200 taels of silver, and even if there is a loss and discount, it is more expensive to buy one than to build one.

Chen Mu quickly estimated in his heart and came to the conclusion that these sea ships were worth at least 50,000 taels of silver.

But Wu Shouli's arched hand was not put down, and he continued: "These sea ships are still drifting along the coast, and they will arrive at Dagu Kou with a full load of fir wood in a few days, and the fir wood on the ship is also a modest effort to serve the imperial court. ”

That's amazing!

Although fir and pine are the inferior timber used in shipbuilding, a warship rarely uses this kind of wood, because its texture is relatively soft, and it is only used to make masts.

Usually make the hull, beam, rudder, door stick and fang of the war ship is nanmu, oak, camphor wood, elm, locust wood, and camphor wood should be cut in autumn and winter, and it will be moth-eaten after a long time of cutting in spring and summer.

Nowadays, due to the import of teak from the Southwest, Malacca and the South Seas, teak is now used for timbers that require a hard texture.

However, the baggage ship can lower these requirements slightly, especially in the case of Chen Mu's lack of baggage boats, this batch of 'returns' is worth a lot of money, no less than the silver donated by Wu Shouli due to the floods in the south.

And Wu Shouli solved the two big problems in front of Chen Mu at once.

One is the problem of the first batch of baggage ships to cross the Great East Ocean, with these sea ships joining, Chen Mu will be able to set sail immediately; The second is the problem of the baggage fleet in the future, and the timber carried by the seagoing ships can help the rapid construction of the second batch of baggage fleet, and can also help in the construction of warships.

The pallet that lines the bilge or the pavement does not affect what kind of wood is used.

Of course, shipbuilding is also adapted to local conditions, there are better choices to use better, most of the time is what is the use, for example, the joint caravan ships of the Nanyang generals are the fortune ships obtained by the pirates in the early years, the decks, structural parts, and masts of those ships are all made of Penghu cypress, which is strong and durable, and the wood is straight, and it is also resistant to corrosion and moisture.

Chen Mu's mind turned, his face was noncommittal, and he did not respond lightly, and said thoughtfully: "Wu Jun's righteousness to serve the imperial court Chen has already heard of it, but it is useless, Your Excellency has served the Oriental Military Government a lot, what can Chen give in return?" ”

"Wu does have something to ask for, a business matter and a private matter, and the private matter is to invite Chen Shuai to be a Chinese, to lead me to enter the Hui businessmen to prosper, and to join hands with Fujian and Guangzhou businessmen to do business."

Wu Shouli didn't just come for himself this time, he said again: "As for official business, as I said to Chen Shuai, my Hui merchants are to help the imperial court soldiers and horses win the Great East, we have asked Chen Shuai to fight overseas every time to win, that is, to call merchants to pass back and forth, the West is advantageous, the East is also advantageous, we and other Hui merchants do not compete with Fujian and Guangzhou merchants for Western benefits, but only want to enter the Great East Ocean - so I hope that Chen Shuai will win every battle, and can shelter us and other seas. ”