Daming pirates

Of course, agriculture and fishery are only one aspect that Yu Xiaotian pays attention to. He also devotes more energy to the development of industry and commerce.

After he took over Nanyue Island, he established a council to be responsible for industry, commerce and agriculture. In the spring of the fourth year of Tianqi, a commercial fleet was set up under the council.

This commercial fleet all uses ships with larger cargo capacity. With the name of Sea Wolf and the trained sailors, this fleet has developed to the second or third level by the autumn of the fourth year of Tianqi.

The size of more than ten ships.

The origin of these ships is very simple, that is, robbery. Some merchants who are not willing to pay for tolls want to pass through the Fuzhou area. As a result, some people are unfortunate enough to hit the muzzle of the sea wolf. The punishment is very serious. Then

All the ships and cargo were confiscated and became the assets of Sea Wolf. As for the personnel, they were put back on land and allowed to find their own way to return home.

Therefore, it is not difficult for Sea Wolf to get ships, and he does not even need to consider building or buying them himself. He can obtain enough merchant ships just through this method.

Sea Wolf's merchant fleet is under the council and is managed by Zhao Mazi. They are affiliated with Maoshengyuan, but they also have direct cooperation with Maoshengyuan. Their mission is to move specialty goods from all over the country from south to north, first

Go to Jiangsu and Zhejiang in the north or Zhili in the south or even as far as Shandong to purchase goods and transport them back to Nanyue Island.

Then at Nanyue Island, the goods are rearranged and shipped according to the demand in the south, and sent to Guangdong or Macau and Manila for trading.

Maritime trading activities are very profitable. One stone of raw silk produced in Jiangsu and Zhejiang can only be purchased for forty to fifty taels of silver, or even as low as twenty or thirty taels of silver. However, once it is trafficked to Manila, one stone of raw silk can be purchased for just 40 to 50 taels of silver.

It can be sold for one hundred taels or even one hundred and twenty taels of silver.

A pound of good tea costs only a few taels of silver or even less than one tael, but by the time it is shipped to Manila, its value has doubled several times.

There are also various porcelain, lacquerware, folding fans, paper, silk and other products, which are all good things that Westerners are eager to buy. Once shipped there, they are of high value and the profits earned are also high.

Therefore, the merchant fleet directly under Sea Wolf has earned very considerable profits for a year, but so far, their strength is not very strong. Some pirates in the south do not recognize their name and will often rob their merchant ships.

, Yu Xiaotian didn't mind this, since their ship was robbed anyway, and it was normal for them to be robbed.

He formulated a special system for sailors on merchant ships. They do not have to fight every enemy like warships. Once they find that the enemy is too strong and they cannot cope with it, they can choose to surrender and save their lives. If they can save the ship,

That's even better. As for the worst case scenario if the cargo is lost, it's a big deal and they have to come back again. In short, their mission is different from other warships. They are mainly responsible for dumping cargo and making profits. Saving their lives is crucial.

Of course, the people on these merchant ships also have an important task, which is to collect intelligence on various counterparts along the way, pay more attention to the areas and scope of activities of some large pirate forces, and lay the foundation in advance for the future sea wolves that may go south.

The merchant fleet is only an integral part of Sea Wolf's business in the past year or so, accounting for a certain proportion. At the same time, Maoshengyuan, a cooperative store with the Li family, is also an important source of funds for Sea Wolf.

After Maoshengyuan was established, its main business scope was in Fujian. With the power of Sea Wolf behind Maoshengyuan, it was easy for Maoshengyuan to do business. In addition to selling a large amount of stolen goods for Seawolf, they also moved various goods nearby.

Sometimes, various goods are received directly from Sea Wolf's board of directors and sold on the shore. This is a huge profit, with Sea Wolf taking the lion's share and Li Yi getting the small share.

But even such a small head is still a huge fortune for Li Yi. Compared with his previous business, the business is much larger and the profits earned are much higher.

Therefore, Li Yi is now completely determined to follow Yu Xiaotian all the way, and basically pins the future of their Li family on Yu Xiaotian.

Although Maoshengyuan is secretly the property of Seawolf, few people know the true details of Maoshengyuan. Li Yi put on a legal cloak and worked for Seawolf, allowing Seawolf to obtain a legal shipment.

At the same time, he also obtained a pretty good intelligence network, using Maoshengyuan to collect various local and official information on land for Sea Wolf.

Now Maoshengyuan has opened at least fourteen or fifteen branch offices in Fujian. In addition to the original managers and clerks of the Li family, Yu Xiaotian also selected a group of shrewd subordinates from the Sea Wolf tribe to station them.

Go to each semicolon, one is to learn how to do business, and the other is to collect information as a sea wolf.

Maoshengyuan's business is actually very easy, especially after they launched two flagship products, glass products and soap, they are doing like a duck to water.

After the craftsmen have continuously improved the craftsmanship of the glass products produced by Nanyue Island Glass Factory during this period, the transparency of the glass has been continuously improved, and the decolorization of the glass has also become better and better. In addition, the craftsmen have also continued to innovate and produce some

Newer styles of glassware and glass products of this quality completely surpass the quality of glass products shipped by Westerners from Europe.

Moreover, the price of Maoshengyuan's glass products is lower than that of glass products produced in Europe, and the styles are more in line with the aesthetic needs of the Chinese people. With more and more styles, they have naturally become a product sought after by the aristocracy.

In particular, the glass mirror made of tin foil and mercury became a sought-after object among the rich and powerful after it was put on the market.

Nowadays, even if rich people can't afford a large glass mirror, they at least have to get a small glass mirror to put in their home for appearance. Anyone who doesn't have this thing at home will be embarrassed to say that their family is rich or wealthy.

Powerful person.

Especially this year, the prefect of Fuzhou purchased some glass products, including two large glass mirrors with a size of more than one foot, and shipped them to the capital as tribute for royal use. Now even businessmen in the north know that Maoshengyuan has such good things. Recently,

They began to send people to Fujian to discuss purchasing goods from Maoshengyuan, preparing to sell them to the north.

Moreover, glass products quickly reached Guangdong and Guangxi through the circulation of goods, and became a popular commodity in Guangdong and Guangxi. Yu Xiaotian made a lot of money from this income alone.

Nowadays, the glass factory is being expanded repeatedly, but the supply of products is still in short supply. The supply has even been scheduled until the end of next year, so that Maoshengyuan has now had to stop ordering and can only complete the current supply first.

For this reason, many merchants have tried to find out the origin of these glass products from Maoshengyuan. Maoshengyuan has always said that these things were shipped from a place called Ao Island thousands of miles away.

The craftsmen there were good at making this kind of stuff, and Mao Shengyuan accidentally established contact with them and got this kind of goods from them.

However, this kind of thing is not easy to transport over long distances and is easily damaged, so the supply is limited and you must order in advance. The goods will not be available until three to six months later. Therefore, merchants who place orders can only wait and try to find ways to find this kind of thing.

The so-called merchant ships of the Australian island country are trying to hook up with the businessmen of the Australian island country and make a lot of money from it.

But for such a nihilistic thing, where can they find businessmen from the island country of Australia? So these merchants who tried to get a share of the pie ended up spending a lot of money, but they were unable to find out where the island country of Australia was, where the merchant ships of the island country of Australia were, let alone

He said that he had found a businessman from the island country of Australia! In the end, it was nothing more than a bamboo basket, and he had no choice but to give up.

Very few people know that this kind of gleaming glass product is actually produced on Nanyue Island, which is just around the corner. If this is the case, it is estimated that some merchants have already instigated the government to send troops to attack Nanyue Island to seize it.

This production technology.

In addition, soap, a new type of product, gradually became known after Maoshengyuan's continuous hype and publicity, and was also sent to the northern capital as a tribute. In addition, Maoshengyuan deliberately did not sell the goods, so that

The market has formed the concept that this kind of thing is definitely a good thing. Price is no longer an important factor. As long as you can get the goods, it is a good thing.

So since the middle of the fourth year of Tianqi, soap has gradually become another extremely profitable commodity. It is still the same as what is available, and the supply is still in short supply. The price is even more frighteningly high. A little bit of pearls are mixed into it.

Pink pearl soap has now been sold on the black market for as much as a hundred taels of silver, and it is still in short supply.

Of course, women from wealthy families have become the driving force behind this. As long as their families have money, these eldest girls and young wives will find ways to get their husbands to buy them for use. Otherwise, they will be too embarrassed to hand over those handkerchiefs to them.

Said, they have never used this thing.

Therefore, with these two flagship products alone, Yu Xiaotian earned countless amounts of money during the four years of Tianqi. Now it is said that even the Portuguese, Spanish and even the Dutch have heard about Maoshengyuan's glass products.

and soap, and began to inquire actively, hoping to buy some and transport them back to Europe to make a fortune.

Glass products are not too unusual for Europeans. After all, Tunisia and France now produce them, and glass products are fragile and not suitable for long-distance transportation. However, new things like soap are definitely fresh.

Moreover, it is also very convenient to transport. As long as it is not soaked in water and is packed into a sturdy box that cannot be broken or squeezed, it can be transported no matter how far it goes.

In short, Maoshengyuan has become very famous in Fuzhou and even in many places in the south thanks to these two handy things, attracting many people's attention.

Of course, being famous also has its disadvantages. Some Jinyi guards, local eunuchs and even the government have also noticed Maoshengyuan, trying to squeeze out some profit and gain from it.

Li Yi was a little scared about this, and mentioned it to Yu Xiaotian many times, and Yu Xiaotian was not stingy. Anyway, it was easy to make money, so Li Yi could just spend a small amount of money to send them away.

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