The so-called 'heaven and earth are all working together, and transporting heroes is not free', and now that the New World is on the issue of iron, Chen Mu has this feeling.

When there is a shortage of iron, there is a shortage everywhere, but once there is no shortage of iron, iron ore flocks to it as if it does not need money.

Mr. Changsheng County found iron ore on the coast of thousands of miles in the north, and then established Pingxiang Iron Factory, iron ore vein reserves are extremely huge, at least to Chen Mu came back when there is news of iron ore found in a radius of more than ten miles, but that is not perfect, the iron ore of Pingxiang Iron Factory is very barren.

The iron ore content of Daming is usually relatively low, except for the iron-rich ore found in Qiongzhou, the general iron ore content is not high, and a large part of it is sulfur-containing pyrite.

The iron ore of Pingxiang Iron Factory is lower than that of the local iron ore of the Ming Dynasty, but it seems that the reserves are huge, and the excavation can meet the needs of some iron agricultural tools.

But when luck comes, it will swarm.

Less than two months after the establishment of the Pingxiang Iron Works, Peruvian Spaniards and Brazilian Portuguese came to Changsheng to express their desire to trade with the Oriental military government.

The first to arrive was a merchant from Brazil, named Simon, who seemed to have a rare European courtesy, he brought a lot of goods, and asked his black servants to put a place in the open space outside the military yamen, and invited Chen Mu to go out and watch.

The goods were only small portions, carried in the same wooden baskets, and neatly arranged, mainly with the goods of rosewood, spices, cotton, sugar, and tobacco called Brazil, as well as some wild animal skins.

Brazil means mahogany in Portuguese, but in fact, the vast expanse of Brazil is a barren land for the Portuguese, who are obsessed with finding gold and silver, and most of the reason why they stay there to develop the land is because of the mahogany.

This kind of cash crop contains a lot of water-soluble red after being ground into powder, which can be used as a dye for precious clothes.

And in the impression of the Portuguese, the Ming Dynasty preferred red, because the clothes worn by the most distinguished officials were red.

However, Chen Mu looked at Simon's goods a little helplessly, he picked his eyes boredly, and only then asked after taking Simon back to the official office, "What do you want to buy from me?" ”

"Gold, silver, muskets, artillery, mainly these cargoes. Mahogany and spices are the best we can come up with, and in the past they were the exclusive domain of the royal family, but your Excellency must have known the king's misfortune. ”

Simon explained, "So now the Governor is allowed to give some of the goods for trade in exchange for some of the weapons that will allow us to protect ourselves. ”

"What you want to sell, Daming can buy a part, but first of all, Daming is not short of dyes or spices, if you offer an outrageous price, I don't need to buy these things, in addition to cotton, tobacco, animal skins and sugar, these things are available in the New World, and we are also growing tobacco, sugar cane and cotton on our land."

Chen Mu didn't have the slightest idea of pit Portuguese businessmen, he was just stating the facts, the homogenization of cash crops in this land is extremely serious, everyone grows these things, and there is no advantage at all, he asked: "Can you tell me, how many Portuguese people are in Brazil?" It is convenient for me to calculate the output of your various types of goods. ”

"You should know that people like me don't talk to you about some small deals, and if I want to, I can buy the whole of Brazil."

Simon opened his mouth and said nothing, for after a brief assessment, it seemed that the man in front of him could indeed buy the barren land of Brazil—if their king were still alive, perhaps only twenty tons, or ten tons of silver, would make the king happy.

"We should have 20,000 or 30,000 people, but because of those pirates in the Han Kingdom, we only have 15,000 now."

Chen Mu blinked: "Because of the Han Kingdom? So you count blacks as well? What if you don't count them? ”

"It can't be counted, we can't work with Tupi, blacks are the main producers, we only have two thousand, but these two thousand are not producers."

In 1561, the Tupi tribes, a tribe of Indians in Brazil, hunted, gathered, and fished for their livelihood, and in 1561 they united many indigenous tribes against Portuguese enslavement, besieged the Portuguese in the city of São Paulo, and finally had to sue for peace, and then the Portuguese began to buy slaves from Africa.

"Do you have iron mines?"

Simon looked at Chen Mu with concern in his eyes: "Your Excellency, if we have iron ore, do we still need to come to you to buy muskets and artillery?" ”

Chen Mu shook his head with a smile and said, "Even if you have it, you will want to buy it from me, because the musket we make is cheaper and easier to use, and we have a lower cost, I prefer cotton, how much cotton can you produce in a year?" ”

"I'm just a businessman, and I'm afraid I'll need to go back and ask the Governor about this matter before I can answer you."

"Well, then go back and tell the Governor that I will not sell gold and silver unless you have iron ore. As for muskets and artillery, if you are in a winning trade, 300 catties of cotton for a musket, and 30,000 catties of cotton for a cannon; If traded in Brazil, 500 catties of cotton for a musket, and 50,000 catties for a cannon. ”

Chen Mu shook his head as he said and said: "The musket is an arquebus, similar to yours, but the artillery is not a Francophone, it is the Ming Dynasty's Erjin Zhenshuo General, it is very useful, let someone take you to see it later." ”

In fact, Chen Mu was a little disappointed after hearing Simon say that there was no iron ore in Brazil, and he didn't bother to talk about it anymore, and cotton was still useful to him in many goods, but it was not so useful, it was just better than nothing.

If they are willing to sell, Chen Mu can also make some money, but if they are unwilling to sell, there are many places in the counties of Asia that produce cotton.

Just as Brazil was a barren land for Portugal, Portugal, a small country with few people, was not profitable for the size of the Oriental Military Administration.

But after thinking about it, an idea suddenly came to him, and he said to Simon: "I have an idea, you can go back and consult with your governor, for at the moment Portugal's greatest concern is how to protect Brazil without the protection of the king, and my army can help him achieve this goal, and my people can help develop Portugal." ”

"You don't have manpower, we have, and although Ming and Portugal have fought a few battles in the past, the Ming Dynasty is not bad to Portugal, at least your people are still staying in Haojing, we have a foundation of mutual trust."

"Why don't we make Brazil like the mirror? If your governor wishes, I will send some men to Brazil to see them, and then select these lands and lease them to you for a while; or free use but the output is shared between Ming and Portugal; At the same time, both sides have a responsibility to protect the land, and these things can be discussed in the future, and you go back and ask your governor. ”

"Just tell him I'm more interested in this matter than in trade."

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