His Majesty King Pasaithorn got up from bed as usual, opened the window of his palace and looked out the window. The whole city of Ayutthaya was still filled with sunlight. Ayutthaya, which the Chinese used to call "the big city", is located in modern Bangkok.
Ayutthaya is an island in the middle of the river kilometer northeast. Ayutthaya means "City of Eternal Victory". This place was the center of the Ayutthaya Dynasty that ruled for 600 years in Thai history.
Although the Kingdom of Siam has not yet been unified, the city of Ayutthaya has become spectacular, and the urban area has expanded to 5 square kilometers. According to the British, the population is roughly the same as that of London, which means that there are at least
Two hundred thousand people.
Even by the standards of the Ming Dynasty, a populous country, a city with a population of 200,000 is very large. At its peak, it was said to have a population of one million.
The palace in the city is magnificent, the pagodas are like a forest, and the prosperity of commerce is second to none in Southeast Asia. Because Ayutthaya city is built on a large island at the confluence of three rivers, water transportation is very developed, and aquatic products from the south and agricultural products from the north are here.
Gathering, trading, and even products from as far away as China are constantly being shipped by sea.
But the God King had no intention of admiring the magnificent scenery of his capital: early in the morning, he heard a report from the palace, saying that a large fleet had arrived outside the mouth of the Chao Phraya River five days ago. The key was that they were hanging from
Unseen flags. They are currently anchored on the Thonburi shore of the Chao Phraya River.
Pasaithong has been wary of outsiders during this period. Last year, Yamada Nagamasa, a big businessman in Ayutthaya, died of injuries and infection after accompanying the Siamese army on an expedition against the Liukun rebellion. Although he repeatedly informed Yamada's Japanese
They promised that he had not poisoned Yamada, but they still could not gain their trust. His ministers had long been jealous of the Japanese business in Ayutthaya, so they ordered the army to burn down the Japanese town in the south gate. Contradiction
With the further deterioration, Japanese volunteers and businessmen fled Cambodia one after another. Before the mess was cleared up, a month ago a messenger brought news from Edo: General Iemitsu was targeting businessmen with shogunate background in Siam.
Angry at what happened to Luo, he officially terminated trade with Siam, which made life even more difficult for the young king: the Burmese were becoming more and more powerful in the west and had already captured Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai.
Although Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai belong to the Lannathai Dynasty, one of the "Three Thais", it is not the territory of the Ayutthaya Dynasty, but it is a vassal of the Ayutthaya Dynasty. The two sides have a close alliance.
It is not difficult for the rulers to understand.
Although the local natives of Siam are brave, they do not have high-quality weapons. The metallurgy and handicraft industries in Southeast Asia have always been backward. In the past, swords were imported from Japan and exported. The Japanese silver was used to purchase gunpowder, matchlocks and muskets from the Portuguese and Dutch.
Cannons. Once the Japanese trade was interrupted, these things would be lost.
He knew that there were only some small fishing villages in Thonburi and a small number of overseas Chinese businessmen from the Ming Dynasty. Compared with large ports such as Pattani where merchants gathered, Thonburi was relatively deserted because most of what could be exported here was rice.
, wood. What foreign businessmen are more interested in is the spices from Southeast Asia.
He began to ask the messenger who reported the situation for information about the group.
He learned from there that this group of people was different from the overseas Chinese merchants of the Ming Dynasty. Although they had the same faces and used Chinese characters, they did not look like the people of the Ming Dynasty in terms of speech or body shape, let alone their short hair.
Very similar to some Siamese generals.
"They said they came here to buy our rice. If we are willing, they are willing to trade with us in silver and weapons." After speaking, the envoy presented the sample given by the Australians to the God King: a standard machete. His Majesty the God King carefully
He was playing with the knife. This knife was not much better than the Japanese knife.
This kind of knife is Lingao's mass-produced standard machete of type 1631. It is used to replace the type 1629 machete. It is widely equipped in the army and militia, especially in the navy and marines. It is also used in agricultural production. It is a
It is a product for both military and civilian use. Except for a few details on the handle, the blade is exactly the same.
Because it is a mass-produced practical knife, the materials and processes are very simple. The blade is directly stamped from the blade blank, which undergoes heat treatment and bluing process. Finally, the blade is trimmed and the handle is attached. It is wrapped in oil paper and installed.
wooden box.
In terms of cost and process complexity, such knives are far inferior to the Japanese knives that the Japanese shipped to East and Southeast Asia for sale. However, thanks to the high-quality steel produced in batches, heat treatment technology and chemical treatment, the quality is no better than Sanliang.
A low-grade Japanese sword worth a handful of silver.
Pa Saitong asked his officers to take out the sword to "try it out" and compare it with various imported Japanese swords.
After a while, the officer came to report that the quality of this kind of knife was no worse than the Japanese knife. It was also much lighter in weight.
This made Pa Sai Tong moved and asked about the price.
"They said that every one hundred pieces of silver equals one hundred Chinese taels. Everyone present was a little surprised. You must know that Japanese swords are not cheap. The lowest-grade Japanese swords cost three hundred taels for one hundred pieces." Ordinary people
The lowest-grade Japanese swords, which are "self-defense weapons and not military weapons," are sold for one tael of silver each.
In comparison, the price quoted by Ping Qiusheng was very conscientious, one hundred taels for every one hundred knives. It was equivalent to the price of the worst Japanese knives. The price-to-price ratio was so high that God King Pasai kept asking questions.
Twice the price.
"The Australians said that there are as many knives as this, and spears similar to this, as much as they want. As long as they are given enough rice and the privilege to propose a trading station and trade in Thonburi." The envoy accepted the Australians.
Seeing the king thinking deeply, he quickly explained.
"Then let Wo Luo Weng do this." Even if the quality of Japanese swords is not as high as that of Japanese swords, as long as there is enough supply, it is what the kingdom needs most, and there is plenty of rice here. If the Burmese from the west continue to attack,
That's a waste of money for them.
Thonburi is on the west bank of Bangkok now. In this time and space, due to the resources and geographical conditions of Pattani, it did not develop. Its rise was only after the demise of the Ayutthaya dynasty. Now except Ayutthaya, the core of Siam
Except for the Tuoya area, the southwestern parts can only be regarded as a federation or confederacy unified under the banner of Siam.
In the 16th century, there were three kingdoms in Thailand: Sukhothai, Lannathai, and Phayao. According to Chinese custom, they could be called Santai. The Three Kingdoms were an alliance. Later, they were established by King Umhang (Umhang), a descendant of a Chinese businessman.
The Ayutthaya (Ayutthaya) dynasty replaced Sukhothai and defeated the Khmers, making Sukhothai a vassal of the Ayutthaya dynasty. As for Lannathai, it survived as a vassal of the Siamese dynasty until the 19th century.
The Bangkok area in later generations was still a vast jungle, and Bangkok itself did not exist. The only port that could be used was Thonburi on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River. However, this is the outlet of the Chao Phraya River, and its geographical location is very important to absorb a large amount of rice from the Chao Phraya River Basin.
The northeastern part of Thailand is a plateau terrain. Due to the barrier of the mountains, it forms a rainy climate. The summer is dry and the water volume in the rainy season is too large, which is not suitable for farming. Thailand’s rice exports ranked among the top three in the world in the original time and space are entirely due to the Chao Phraya River. As long as it is controlled
If we live at the outlet of the Chao Phraya River, we can continuously absorb the rice from Siam. When the engine operation is completed and the layout of Southeast Asia begins, the food problem of the Crossing Group in South China can basically be solved once and for all. Ping Qiu Sheng from the Big Book
Data found in the museum show that in the middle of the Qing Dynasty, the Siamese region exported 10,000 koku of rice to Guangdong every year, which was equivalent to half of the koku in Japan! Such resources were only one-third or even four-quarters at this time.
One is controlled by the Cross-Training Group, which is enough to feed the population of Hainan Province for a year and still have a surplus. The rest is just a matter of transportation capacity.
In the past few days since the envoy set out, the fleet has not been idle. In addition to measuring hydrology and surrounding terrain, the survey team also sent out a survey team to investigate other local resources. Within two days, the team sent out brought a surprise to Ping Qiu Sheng.
.
"Lao Ping, what do you think this is?" Liu Zheng from the investigation team shouted in a surprised tone, holding a yellow irregular crystal in his hand.
"Amber? Where did you get this thing?"
"This is a potash mine, to be precise, carnallite. There is a lot of it around here, no wonder the land here is so fertile." Liu Zheng has been in the exploration team for a long time and is very familiar with the ore. He is not as simple as in the past.
A travel companion.
"This is a good thing," he said. Because of his ore prospecting, Liu Zheng had a lot of contact with the industrial and agricultural departments. The issue of chemical fertilizers was often mentioned by agricultural veterans.
Chemical fertilizers are not only nitrogen fertilizers, but also potassium fertilizers and phosphate fertilizers. Compared with phosphate fertilizers supplied by struvite and phosphate rocks, the supply of potassium fertilizers has always been in short supply. This shortage cannot be solved by simply upgrading industry. It is not only Lingao or Hainan
, the whole of East Asia lacks sufficient potash mines. The source of potash fertilizer in Lingao comes from the refined salt industry in Ma Niao. However, the output is very low. About two tons of potassium salt can be produced for every one hundred tons of refined salt produced, which is a drop in the bucket.
If the industry can obtain a stable potash mine from Siam, it will be of great help to the entire agricultural production. If it can be mined in batches and processed into potassium fertilizer as a gift to the Ministry of Agriculture, all of it will be used in the cooperative in Qiongshan. The cooperative will see immediate results.
The more sensational the effect, the more successful the series of agricultural reforms carried out in Qiongshan will be.
At Liu Zheng's suggestion, potash mines were also added to the list for this trade.
Thailand's potash mines are mainly located on the Korat Plateau, with many scattered ones. However, potash mines are generally buried relatively deep, mostly three hundred meters underground. However, due to the karst terrain, there are still some mineral veins.
Once out of the ground, mining conditions are pretty good.!