The Rise of the European Emperor

In fact, Marin didn't want to visit the beautiful rivers and mountains of Daming at all. why? Because he has seen it in future generations! Although the pictures are basically seen on the Internet, they can be regarded as seen.

Moreover, later generations of Marin do not like to go out to travel during the Golden Week. What is tourism then? It was clearly crowded with people. Slightly more famous scenic spots are crowded with people when it comes to holidays. It is impossible to see the scenery just by looking at the heads. Therefore, it is better to look at the pictures at home.

What's more, in this day and age, there is no high-speed rail, no planes, and no buses, so traveling far away is simply fatal. Especially when riding a horse, it looks handsome, but the level of bumps is unbearable for those with poor physique. Not to mention the carriage, there are no anti-shock springs. People sitting in the carriage and encountering uneven roads basically jump up and down on the seat.

Therefore, civil servants of the Ming Dynasty often choose to travel by boat when they travel with their families. For example, take the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal route. Although the speed is slower, the boat ride is better than being stable. As for seasickness or something, it's not that exaggerated. Ships that can get seasick are generally seagoing ships. Because the sails of the sea ship tilted severely under the sea wind, and then caused the hull to shake severely, those with poor physique or who are not used to it will of course get seasick. But taking a small boat on the Grand Canal is different. The black-covered boat that is like the swaying oar is actually very stable. As long as you don't encounter bad weather, it is generally much safer than riding a horse-drawn carriage on land.

However, Marin was not one of those weak civil servants of the Ming Dynasty, and he didn't care about the bumps on the horse's back. Therefore, after consulting the Ming court, he has the right to use the Daming station system. In other words, he can keep changing horses along the way. In this way, Marin can travel four to five hundred miles a day without waiting for the horse to recover. From the capital to Wuchang, the road is only more than 2,000 miles away. Ma Lin and a group of men went through the post station system, changing horses constantly, and arrived in a few days.

But these few days kept changing horses and rushing on the road, which also made Marin exhausted. Fortunately, he will no longer run around, he just needs to sit in Wuchang and wait for merchants from all over the country to deliver the goods to his door.

But those businessmen sent news back to their hometown even slower than Marin, and it took a lot of time to collect the goods and transport them to Wuchang by water. Therefore, Marin simply waited slowly in Wuchang. Anyway, he didn't want to experience the bumpy days on horseback anymore. Especially, it was already winter, and running around on horseback was really not a good choice, it was very uncomfortable.

After arriving in Wuchang, after meeting with the two chief envoys of the Huguang Chief Envoy and the governor of Huguang, Marin stayed at the post station and did not go out. Because other officials are not worthy of his contact. After all, he can be regarded as the consolation envoy of the third rank within the Ming Dynasty, and there is no need to ignore other people except the left and right chief envoys and the governor of Huguang. Only the capital city is different, there are too many bosses there, and Marin has to lower his stance. But in Huguang Province, apart from the two chief envoys and the governor, Marin really didn't need to ignore anyone else.

In fact, Marin really didn't want to take this trip. However, Zhengde and the Ming cabinet stipulated that in future trade, ships from Dongfan Island were allowed to stop at the three ports of Fuzhou, Ningbo and Guangzhou, and were not allowed to go deep into the mainland.

so,

Marin could only take this opportunity and go deep into the mainland in the name of playing. Otherwise, Kong Tai and the others would not be authorized to go deep into the inland area...

...

In addition to purchasing various medicinal materials, Marin certainly did not forget to purchase the seeds of moso bamboo, tung tree and sumac...

The moso bamboo seeds that Kong Tai bought in Guangzhou last time were too few, not enough at all. For the seeds of tung and sumac, the more the better. Therefore, before leaving Beijing, Ma Lin greeted businessmen from all over the country and asked them to help purchase the seeds of moso bamboo, tung tree and lacquer tree and send them to Wuchang. Especially the seeds of moso bamboo, which take 60 years to bloom and bear fruit, are very hard to find.

This time, Marin was in Wuchang and posted widely, inviting businessmen from all over the world to bring moso bamboo seeds to Wuchang to exchange money. The price offered by Marin was not low. Although it was not as high as the sky-high price of 20 taels per catty that Kong Tai offered in Guangzhou last time, it was still 3 taels of silver per catty.

Don't underestimate the price of these 3 taels of silver per catty. You must know that apart from several top-level medicinal materials such as ginseng, there are no more than one tael of silver per catty of precious medicinal materials in Daming. And the precious sandalwood is only 0.55 taels of silver per catty in Daming. The purchase price of 3 taels of silver per catty offered by Marin is definitely a high price, so there is no need to worry about no one delivering the goods to the door.

However, while sitting in Wuchang, Marin also asked Kong Tai to hire several brokers at a high price in Wuchang, and arranged for them to rush to Anhua and Jingdezhen to dig people.

Going to Anhua was mainly because Marin wanted to dig tea farmers. After all, although Marin could spend money to buy tea tree seeds of Anhua dark tea, he did not have the technology to plant tea trees and process black tea bricks. Therefore, he needs to find a few tea farmers to go to Taiwan Island to guide him on how to plant Anhua dark tea trees and how to make black tea bricks.

The brokers sent to Jingdezhen were mainly responsible for excavating several pottery craftsmen, and followed them to Taiwan Island. Then, look for porcelain clay mining areas in the Yingge area in the west of the Taipei Basin. Then, establish a ceramic production base.

Because of time constraints, Marin only asked them to dig a few kiln craftsmen and boats to Taiwan Island. In fact, what Marin wants to dig most is the master craftsman of the Jingdezhen official kiln, but the ceramic craftsmen of the official kiln are all artisans strictly controlled by the government. Marin is not a ceramic craftsman who cannot obtain official kilns through bribery, but it takes a lot of time. In a hurry, Marin couldn't handle the local officials and asked them to cooperate with the master craftsman who brought the official kiln. Therefore, this time Marin can only dig out a few artisans of folk kilns at a high price. Moreover, their task was only to find the Yingge porcelain clay area and lay a solid foundation for the establishment of a ceramic base in the future. They did not need the level of official kiln master craftsmen, ordinary folk kiln ceramic craftsmen would do.

...

In addition to these actions, Marin also recruited a group of landless vagrants and beggars near Wuchang according to the permission of the Ming court, and bought dozens of slaves, intending to take them to Taiwan Island. After all, the development of Taiwan Island also requires population.

But in fact, the refugees, beggars, and purchased slaves that Marin recruited near Wuchang were all used as a cover for the recruited Anhua tea farmers and Jingdezhen folk kiln ceramic craftsmen.

Ma Lin recruited and purchased more than two hundred landless refugees, beggars and slaves in Wuchang. With so many people covering up, it will be effortless to stuff a few tea farmers and pottery craftsmen inside.

The fact is the same. Three months later, the brokers sent to Anhua and Jingdezhen brought back 6 tea farmers and 4 pottery craftsmen respectively. However, they all went to Taiwan Island alone, without bringing their families along. This is also impossible, because these tea farmers and pottery craftsmen are not homeless refugees, and there is no need to move their families to Taiwan Island. Although they were moved by the money paid by Marin, they didn't intend to take the whole family to take risks. Therefore, they all chose to go alone, and left all the money given by Marin to their families. In this way, even if they encounter an accident, the family members will not get nothing.

...

At this time, a large number of medicinal materials and corresponding seeds purchased from central Shu, Huguang, and southern Shaanxi and other places such as Coptis chinensis and Youyang Artemisia annua were also transported to Wuchang. And Marin's 10 500-ton warships originally moored at the Yangtze River Estuary also went upstream from the Yangtze River Estuary and arrived in Wuchang.

Not to mention, Marin directly ordered to ship all kinds of medicinal materials and seeds, as well as the recruited population, and then go down the river...

Arriving at the estuary of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal near Zhenjiang Prefecture, Zhang Cai had already brought the 2,000 Taihu pigs he had purchased and several sacks of Biluochun tea seed waiting here.

To Marin's great surprise, Zhang Cai not only brought Taihu pigs and tea seeds, but also two local tea farmers to guide the planting of scary tea trees and the frying of tea leaves. After all, Scary Tea is green tea, and it is made in a different way from Anhua's black tea. Therefore, Zhang Cai thought of this without getting Marin's prompt, which made Marin very relieved.

What made Ma Lin the happiest was that Zhang Cai took in two bankrupt silkworm farmers from Huzhou, Zhejiang Province on her own initiative, and brought hundreds of lake mulberry seedlings and a bag of Huzhou silkworm eggs... (Ouhuang Rise..7777372)--( Rise of the European Emperor )