As the general manager of the East India Company in Asia, Methwold naturally had a study of the special products of various places, he reached out and took the ball, pinched it, and said with great certainty: "If I remember correctly, this is the sap of a tree on a Caribbean island, and the natives of the island call it Kau Kau or Kau Chou or something?"

But with all due respect, don't look at the small balls that this juice condenses in this season, but in the summer it will become soft and sticky like dough when it is exposed to the sun for a little longer. In winter, it will become hard and brittle again.

In our Europe, it is known as a novelty brought back by Columbus, and it has no other use than as a toy for games. Does Your Majesty think it has any special effect? ”

As Methwold spoke, he looked up at Chongzhen's expression from time to time, as if he wanted to see some clues from his face. If the Chinese did find a new use for the material, it would be a new source of revenue for the East India Company.

This tree, which the Indians called tears, abounds from the islands of the Caribbean to the vast continents of South America. The sap of these trees was not of much interest to Europeans because it had no other purpose than being used by the Indians as toys for games, and its value was very low.

If he can find new uses from the Chinese, then he will make an outstanding contribution to the company. Perhaps he would be able to return home with a large fortune and not have to continue his adventures in the Far East.

Zhu Youzhen looked at Meswold's rather eager gaze, and couldn't help but smile and said, "We haven't found a new use for this material yet, but I decided to name it rubber." ”

"Rubber?" Under Chongzhen's explanation, Methwald finally figured out the meaning of rubber, which can be regarded as creating a new word for the English language.

"Since Your Majesty is not aware of the new uses of this material, how can you use it to cover the trade deficit?" Methwold said disappointedly.

Zhu Youzhen replied disapprenosingly: "I firmly believe that this material must have a use that we don't know."

You see, the new crops produced on the American continent, such as tobacco, cocoa, sisal, Brazilian mahogany, sweet potato, potato, corn, pepper, etc., which were not available in the Ming Dynasty, have all proven their uses, so it can be seen that this new material should also have a use for people.

I have ordered the Royal Academy of Sciences of the Ming Dynasty to conduct research on the properties of rubber, and I think that within 2 or 3 years, this research result will definitely appear. So I am now buying a batch of rubber from the East India Company, and there will be no cap for the next three years.

According to the Portuguese, there was a large number of rubber trees in the Amazon basin, and the East India Company could sell rubber from the Amazon basin for £60 per ton of rubber, £1 per 100 rubber seeds, and £05 per rubber seedling. ”

Hearing that Chongzhen was only speculating about the use of rubber, although this speculation was based on the discovery of new species in the Americas, Methwald still felt a little skeptical. He did not think that the Chinese emperor would come up with such a huge sum of money to gamble.

In his view, these Chinese may have discovered a special use for rubber, or have found a trick on how to use it.

Therefore, while frowning, he sighed and explained to Chongzhen how long and dangerous the road from England to the Amazon basin in Brazil, and then to China, and it would take at least 2 years to complete a trade cycle, so the price given by the emperor was still low.

Zhu Youzhen thought for a moment, and then continued to Methwald: "Just a few days ago, I sent someone to ask you how much the rent would be if the Ming wanted to lease a merchant ship from the East India Company or the British shipowner.

Your answer to the men sent by me is that if they are leased for 12 months, they will be 12 pence per tonne per day; If leased for 6 months, that's 18p per tonne per day.

And your Nautilus, with a tonnage of less than 500 tons, is 9,125 pounds for a year and 68,625 pounds for half a year based on 500 tons.

Then I can give you another suggestion, whether in Southeast Asia or in the Indian Ocean, there are many British private merchant ships that are not owned by the East India Company. If you can assemble a fleet of about 2,000 tons of rubber and deliver no less than 1,000 tons of rubber to the Ming every year, then I will lease you for three years and pay you 40,000 pounds a year for rent. ”

Chongzhen's suggestion immediately made Methwold tempted, and the annual charter of 40,000 pounds was almost enough to build a new fleet of 2,000 tons. This is tantamount to using ships rented by the Chinese to make money for him personally.

Obviously, the emperor's suggestion was directed at him personally, not at the company. Meswold felt a little itchy in his throat, and after he coughed lightly a few times, he said with a little discoloration: "I am loyal to the company, Your Majesty's proposal is too much...

I wonder how the annual profits of the fleet will be distributed if His Majesty pays the rent? ”

Methwold did want to refuse at first, but the words that came out of his throat surprised him too, and he thought that some devil must have pinched his throat to say such words that went against his heart.

"Fifty-fifty, the fleet's trade profits, we are one and a half. I will pay for the rental of the ships in the form of silk, porcelain, tea, etc., and will double as long as you ship them back to England. ”

Chongzhen's answer finally shattered the last hesitation in Methwald's heart, and he said without hesitation: "The British private merchant ships in Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean are not reliable, and after I return to China this time, I will personally recruit ship owners in the country and recruit a reliable fleet for Your Majesty." ”

Chongzhen shook his head at him and said, "You're not right, it should be our fleet." ”

Seeing Chongzhen shake his head, Methwald was still a little stunned, but then he replied with a humble smile: "Yes, Your Majesty, it is indeed our fleet. ”

Zhu Youzhen was not surprised by Methwold's performance. Although Methwold was the general manager of the British East India Company, the British East India Company was not the same East India Company that had established itself in India decades later.

Methwold's annuity is around £1,000, plus grey income and dividends from investment sailing, and it won't exceed £2,000 a year.

The East India Company was now a loose conglomerate, and investment was calculated on a per-voyage basis, rather than on the operation of the entire company's fleet. As a result, he, as the general manager of the East India Company, was able to mobilize extremely limited human and financial resources.

Of course, for the current income level in the UK, Methwold is quite satisfied with his annuity. After all, the average farmer in England earns only between £7 and £10 a year, and the average squire landowner earns £30 a year.

With Methwold's origin, the best job he could get in the country was as a judge of the High Civil Court, a position with an annuity of £700, plus other grey income, and between £1,500 and £2,000 a year.

But Chongzhen's proposal is equivalent to giving him an annuity of at least 40,000 pounds a year, not counting the fleet's profit dividends, just replacing the charter with goods, which can allow him to earn at least 40,000 pounds.

What is the concept of £40,000? If you want to be a magistrate in London, you must have a fortune of 10,000 pounds. And being able to serve as a magistrate in London is equivalent to stepping into the top aristocratic class of Britain.

Now Chongzhen is on a one-time loan for 3 years, which means that as long as Methwold survives these three years safely, he will step into the ranks of the British super-rich with assets of more than 100,000 pounds.

Attracted by this great interest, Methwold felt that he could abandon the Anglican Church and become a Catholic.

Once his interests were involved, Methwold immediately felt that the triangular trade between Britain and Brazil and China had not played the true value of this route.

In Chongzhen's vision, metal tools or weapons were transported from England, and then exchanged for rubber from the indigenous tribes living in the Amazon basin, and then the ships loaded with rubber sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and sailed directly across the Indian Ocean to Batavia along the 40-degree roaring westerly wind belt discovered by the Dutch navigator Hendrick in 1610.

From Batavia to Shanghai, rubber and South American products were unloaded and loaded back to England with Chinese goods, and so on was a trade cycle.

However, according to Methwald, this was not very cost-effective, because the local indigenous tribes in the Masun valley of Pacia had been driven by the Portuguese to the far upper reaches of the country.

If they rely on themselves to find and develop rubber resources, I am afraid it will not be completed in one or two years. But Brazil is now the world's largest sugar producer, and although the Portuguese lost a large area of land under the Dutch invasion, the Amazon estuary is still in Portuguese hands.

The Portuguese, who have been operating in Brazil for almost 100 years, know more about the Amazon than anyone else, and it would be much quicker for the Portuguese to collect rubber than they would have started over.

In Brazil, the Portuguese, whose most scarce goods were black slaves brought from Africa. The Portuguese cultivated large plantations or pastures in Brazil, and the local Indians were not suitable as slaves on the plantations, and the docile and strong black slaves were the best choice for these plantation owners.

The invasion of the Dutch increased the demand for black slaves in the Portuguese, because the Portuguese needed to enrich the colonial army with whites, so there was more labor shortage in the fields and sugar mills.

In Africa, a black slave is worth about 17 iron rods. In England, this iron rod is worth 3 shillings and 3 pence a piece. In Brazil, the price of a black slave is about £25. The slave trade alone yielded 88 times the profits.

And in China, the same iron rod is less than 2 shillings. Therefore, black slaves in Africa, rubber in Brazil, and iron products in China can form a trade cycle.

Taking advantage of the roaring westerly winds, this sailing route is dangerous, but it takes only 21 days to circumnavigate. Combined with other voyage times, the entire trade cycle can be compressed to less than 10 months.

After completing 2 triangular trades, and then transporting Chinese goods back to Europe, the profits will be greater.