Chapter 1342 Overlord
Lion Harbor does have lions.
There are even tigers, elephants, leopards, and wolves here, not to mention countless monkeys. The place is small and there are many wild animals. Even Lion Harbor is very lively now, but when the night is quiet, you can still hear the roar of lions and wolves not far from the castle.
The sea breeze brings a salty smell, but also brings a cool and refreshing feeling.
In the castle, Qin Lang hugged the queen and chatted.
The house is lit with whale oil lamps, which are also mixed with ambergris, glass cover, classic lantern shape, windproof and bright, and this lamp also has fuel-saving effect, a full-fledged fuel-efficient lamp.
"Are you satisfied with the result of today's talk?" The queen looked lazy. Although they were getting older, the two of them rarely saw each other, and they were still full of passion. Qin Lang's majestic style was still the same, which made the queen very satisfied.
"not bad."
The first day of the ten-nation maritime alliance was actually more of a polite chat, but of course some substantive things were discussed later.
The kings of various countries attached great importance to this alliance, because before coming here, when Qin Lang initiated the alliance invitation, he had already sent envoys to various countries, handed over his personal letters, and the envoys personally explained, basically Some key points to be discussed in the second meeting have been mentioned.
Includes the establishment of a ten-nation Nanyang maritime trade agreement and the formation of a military alliance. The main goal is to promote the prosperity of Nanyang maritime trade and maintain the security and stability of the Nanyang region.
These are the two most basic goals of the alliance.
This can be said to be related to the vital interests of these big and small overlords in Nanyang today, so they naturally responded positively, not to mention that Qin Lang's reputation as a sage in the South China Sea is not only resounding in Datang, but even more famous in Nanyang.
In addition to the reputation, Luzon's armed merchant marine force is quite powerful in Nanyang, especially outside the Datang sea area, even surpassing the imperial court's maritime naval patrol force. With this strength endorsement, the reputation is of course louder.
Qin Lang wants to integrate economy and security, and wants to be the leader of this alliance. Other countries also have their own plans.
The Nanyang Alliance has been officially established. Today, the first thing to determine is the respective exclusive spheres of influence of the ten major allies. Everyone recognizes each other and does not invade each other, so as to determine and maintain the exclusive status of each allied country on their own exclusive spheres of influence.
For example, Shalentra’s exclusive status on Java cannot be violated by Boni, Sri Buddha, etc., and everyone does not support other existing countries on Java.
For those weak countries, tribes, etc., this is of course a bullying clause, but for these small overlords, this is a strong alliance, which is good for everyone.
Everyone recognizes and supports each other in order to maintain absolute leadership in their respective territories.
This is the basic condition for the establishment and survival of the entire alliance.
The alliance was formally established, and all countries eagerly wanted to order the Qin family's new large ships from Qin Lang, especially the multi-masted treasure ships capable of deep-sea voyages. This kind of ship has always been the envy of all countries.
The ships in their own countries are all traditional ships, and even many countries mainly use sailing boats, small ships, and even long-distance voyages must be sailed with the help of monsoons, not like the big treasure ships of the Qin family. Sailing, there is no long wait at all.
More importantly, the Qin family's new ocean-going treasure ship is tall and has a high loading capacity. It can carry more cargo at a time, and it is also more resistant to storms and waves. It is fast and equipped with many weapons and guards. Don't be afraid of those pirates.
In recent years, the sea merchants of Datang have almost monopolized the ocean trade. The key is that they have these new treasure ships, and the carrying capacity, speed, cost, safety, etc. are far beyond the traditional old ships of various countries.
In the past, many maritime merchants from the Central Plains mainly traveled to Southeast Asia, and seldom went directly to the Persian Gulf. Most of them were in the form of segmented transportation trade. Merchants from Nanyang countries relayed trade. For example, merchants from the Central Plains may ship their goods from Guangzhou Transported to Jiaozhou, Jiaozhou merchants transported to Linyi, Linyi merchants transported to Funan, and Funan merchants may be transported to Panpan, transported by land to the opposite sea through the isthmus, and then transported by sea to Pyuyue, or to Lion Country, and then Lion Country The sea merchants of China or Tianzhu then shipped it to Persia, and the Persian merchants shipped it to the Mediterranean, or via the Arabian Peninsula or the Red Sea, to Egypt, Frank, etc.
There are many participants in the entire maritime trade route, and all countries have a share, and occupy the Strait of Malacca, the Strait of Sunda, the Isthmus of Kra, and several key waterways in the Indian Ocean route. Srivijaya, Panpan, Langyaxiu, Xialentra and the Lion Kingdom have gained more benefits.
Over the past few decades, Datang's navigation technology and shipbuilding technology have been improved by leaps and bounds, and the maritime merchants of the Southeast Asian countries have been left behind by thousands of miles, and the maritime merchants of Persia, Egypt, Rome, Arabia and other countries in the West have also been left behind. far away.
More profits from maritime trade fell into the hands of Tang merchants. Many Tang merchants had already set off directly from Guangzhou or Jiaozhou, and then shipped their goods directly to the Persian Gulf or the Mediterranean Sea. This made many countries along the way No good.
But they don't have better ships, so they can only look at the ocean and sigh. Although Sri Lanka and others still rely on their own unique spices and other products, they still have a place in the trade, but it is far worse than before.
At today's talks, all countries expressed eagerly that they want to order new treasure ships from the Qin family in Luzon, hoping that Luzon can relax the restrictions.
Qin Lang certainly agreed with this.
The Qin family is not the only one who can build the new type of ocean-going treasure ship. This new technology was first produced by the Qin family, and has always been in the leading position in this industry.
For Qin Lang, he believes that as long as the technology is in his own hands, then selling ships to Southeast Asian countries is naturally possible, and even a good industry. Make money by selling ships, and then invest in R&D and design, upgrading and upgrading, and maintain technological advantages, so you don't have to worry about maintaining profits.
"You promised so happily, aren't you afraid that other countries will rob the business of Luzon and even Datang Maritime Merchants?"
Qin Lang gently curled the queen's hair and explained, "The most important thing is the goods, not the ships. In maritime trade, goods always occupy the most critical part. With the increase of ocean-going ships, the volume of sea transportation will increase, which is beneficial to trade. Facilitating."
New technologies have created a new shipping model.
In the past, sea ships and navigation technology basically allowed ships to sail along the coast, and had to use the monsoon to sail long distances, so there was a long waiting period. When the wind blows, they had to sail along the coast. Port supply, even because of lack of mastery of routes and charts, many ships can only sail on a fixed route.
Few ships can master a route of tens of thousands of miles, and the route is extremely precious and top-secret information for each family.
Therefore, in the past, more sea transportation was segmental transportation. The cargo owner either sold the goods at the next stop and handed them over to another merchant, or had to change ships and hire other ships to pass the next voyage.
And this kind of voyage basically only runs once a year.
The cycle is long and the risk is high.
This undoubtedly also restricted sea trade.
In today's maritime trade, the Central Plains undoubtedly occupies an upstream position in the trade. There are extremely popular foreign trade commodities, such as porcelain, tea, and silk, not to mention sugar and glass. The world's big killer, and the paper, books, lacquerware, and ironware of the Central Plains are also very popular.
The Southeast Asian countries mainly rely on resources, such as spices, ivory, rhino horn, gold and silver, etc. As for what the Thai and Western countries have, they really don’t have much.
They love silk, porcelain and even tea from Middle Earth, as well as spices from Nanyang, but they themselves don’t have any serious good things. In the early days of the Silk Road on land, they mainly relied on entrepot trade, that is, spices passed down from Nanyang, Then go to the Central Plains through the Western Regions.
With the rise of the Maritime Silk Road, countries such as Persia and Rome undoubtedly suffered great losses. At this time, they mainly relied on gold, silver, slaves, and some fabrics and handicrafts in exchange for good things from the East.
From the Han Dynasty, whether it was the Silk Road on land or the Silk Road on the Sea, those famous Sogdian merchants, Turkic merchants, Arab maritime merchants, Kunlun merchants, etc., mainly relied on entrepot trade, that is, they acted as middlemen to make money .
Even until the end of the Qing Dynasty, the trade between overseas countries and China has never been able to compete, and basically they have always been in deficit.
Even China's neighbor, Japan, is basically in a pure deficit. There is no competitiveness in handmade goods, and it can only rely on resources, such as Japanese silver and Japanese copper.
Spain discovered the New World of America and mined amazing silver mines. As a result, most of the silver eventually flowed into the Ming Dynasty.
With these understandings, Qin Lang is not worried about the disadvantages of increasing the number of oceangoing ships. The more ships, the more benefits the Central Plains merchants who occupy a dominant position in trade will have.
The larger the trade volume, the larger the surplus, and the more you earn.
What's more, shipbuilding itself is a very profitable industry in this era, and it can stimulate huge domestic demand and supply. Ocean-going treasure ships are high-tech products in this era, and each ship requires many craftsmen and workers, let alone There is a whole set of related industries that can be promoted.
How much wood does a large ship cost? And only this ship material will bring many processing and subdivisions such as logging, transportation, sawing, autoclaving, etc. In addition, sailing boats, cables, boat nails and boat paint are also indispensable.
Not to mention other things, the rise of maritime trade in the Tang Dynasty in recent years has also led to a great increase in the consumption of tung oil. In the eastern and western parts of the Central Plains, it was originally an extremely backward mountainous area with inconvenient transportation and a backward economy, but the climate there is suitable. Tung oil trees were planted, and a huge tung oil industry was formed within a few decades.
Only in Wuzhou Longbiao on the Yuanjiang River, this small riverside village has become a tung oil processing and distribution center in eastern Guizhou and western Hunan due to the convenience of water transportation, integrating procurement, refining, production, packaging, transportation and sales. , has become a pillar industry. Over the past few decades, more than 30 tung oil shops have been established in the local area, and there are hundreds of oil extraction workshops. Hundreds of thousands of tons of tung oil are shipped out every year, with a value of more than 10 million.
Tung oil is an essential heavy material in shipbuilding, but it is also widely used in other wooden barrels and furniture industries.
In addition to tung oil, other things such as lacquer are also used in large amounts.
In short, the shipbuilding industry is widely related and can drive many other industries.
The Qin family has invested a lot in the shipbuilding industry, and now they are gradually moving many important industries from the Central Plains to Luzon. Of course, they need enough orders to expand the scale of the industry and drive the economy of Luzon.
"There will be more ship orders this time, and the demand for wood will be greater. I will also place an order for teak wood from Linyi later."
Teak is a high-quality wood for shipbuilding. It is a tropical tree species. It is mainly produced in Southeast Asia. It can be found in Guangxi, Yunnan, Linyi, Chenla and Pyuyue, but Pyuyue has the most and the best quality.
This kind of teak is not only a good material for shipbuilding, but also suitable for making wooden floors and high-end furniture.
Building a ship requires a lot of wood.
Pyu teak is the best quality, strong stability, no deformation, anti-corrosion, moisture-proof and termite-proof, strong oiliness, known as the king of all wood, for ocean-going ships, teak is the best choice, especially The kind of teak that is more than sixty years old is of better quality.
But for Luzon, Huyue is at war, and secondly, the distance is far away, so the Luzon shipyard must place orders from multiple places, placing orders from Guangxi, Zhennan, Yunnan, Linyi, and Funan.
After all, teak wood is not cut down and can be used.
(end of this chapter)