Viscount Andrei docked the cargo ship at the port of Love City.
He stood on the boat and looked towards the dock. There were a few stevedores in Lefo City.
There are many strange machines on the dock. Driven by a black-smoking machine, they use wooden boxes and net bags to load and unload the cargo on the ship.
This machine is so powerful that it can easily lift heavy objects that dozens of big men cannot lift.
There are some lever cranes in Western ports, but they are completely incomparable with these machines.
Viscount Andre looked at the machinery on the dock and stood directly on the bow of the ship in a daze.
It wasn't until someone asked him if he was selling some goods here that Viscount Andre reacted.
They are not in a hurry to sell the goods, but first observe the value of the goods.
Viscount Andre learned from the Navy of the Great China Dynasty that the cargo ships of their fleet could pass through the Strait of Malacca to the capital of the Great China Dynasty.
Whether the warships in the fleet can pass through the Strait of Malacca, the Navy of the Great China Dynasty needs to ask its superiors for instructions.
The warships in the fleet must go to the capital.
Not to mention the pirates you may encounter along the way.
The warships of the United Kingdom heading to the capital will allow the nobles of the Great China Dynasty to see the strength of the United Kingdom.
No country cares about the weak.
The United Kingdom's warships can come all the way from the west to the capital of the Great China Dynasty. This is a guarantee of strength.
In order to wait for the news, Viscount Andre could only stay in Love City.
Lefo City Customs, because they did not receive instructions from their superiors.
They refused to allow Viscount Andrei to enter Love City and could only stay at the dock.
Customs cannot clear customs, and the goods carried by Viscount Andre cannot be sold here in Love City.
Viscount Andrei did not have any setbacks such as the epidemic.
He led the team to the Dahua Dynasty and was prepared to endure all kinds of difficulties. Now everything is going smoothly, much better than he imagined.
Viscount Andre spent a lot of money to hire a Chinese who could speak Spanish through the introduction of the customs officials of the Great China Dynasty in Lofo City.
This translator also serves as his Chinese teacher.
If the United Kingdom wants to maintain long-term exchanges with the Great China Dynasty, they must master the Chinese language.
Viscount Andre looked at the translator Lu Ping'an and asked: "Mr. Lu, when you teach me Chinese, you can introduce me to some common sense of the Dahua Dynasty.
I know some common sense so that I won’t make a fool of myself in front of big shots, and this is very important to me.”
"My Lord Viscount, I would be most happy to teach you.
When I teach you Chinese, I will introduce you to the common sense of the Dahua Dynasty.
My knowledge is limited, and I don’t know much about some new things.
I usually like to read newspapers. I suggest you buy more newspapers.
Many newspapers here in Nanyang use pinyin.
I will teach you pinyin first, which is the most convenient tool for learning Chinese."
Lu Ping'an was neither humble nor overbearing, and gave the most suitable advice.
Lu Ping'an, who had just turned 20, joined the Nanyang Branch of the Military Intelligence Bureau after graduating from elementary school.
He has the best Spanish in the department.
This time, I accepted the order from my superiors and infiltrated the United Kingdom's mission.
His main purpose is to monitor the mission and prevent anyone from sabotaging the mission or spying on Dahua's confidential information.
He also has an important task, which is to verify the true identity of this mission.
The United Kingdom is a Western country that the Dahua Dynasty has never had contact with before. Their true identity can only be confirmed through the performance of the people in the mission.
In the courts before the Great Hua Dynasty, there were cases where people pretended to be overseas states and defrauded tribute rewards.
There are currently no tribute rewards in the Dahua Dynasty, but we must be wary of enemies using this method to pretend to be envoys to spy on important information.
Viscount Andre followed Lu Pingan's suggestion and purchased many newspapers published locally in Nanyang.
He learned Chinese through newspapers and also learned some common sense about Dahua.
While Viscount Andre was reading the newspaper, he also communicated with customs officials from time to time and went to the dock to watch merchants trading goods.
He knew that doing business in Dahua required paying a high tariff.
Most of the goods they carried were worthless. The cotton cloth that they thought was valuable could not be sold at a high price here.
The goods with the most stable value are actually sugar and cotton.
The only thing that is difficult to value is wine. I wonder how the Western-flavored wine will sell in the East?
Viscount Andrei inquired about a lot of information and recorded it in his notes.
This time we went to Dahua, and we carried some of the specialties from the United Kingdom on board.
The United Kingdom is not as arrogant as the Kingdom of Spain. It directly brings a large amount of money to do business.
If the caravan can sell goods from the United Kingdom to Dahua and use the money earned from this shipment to purchase important goods such as tea, porcelain, etc., then such trade can continue.
Through these days of observation, Viscount Andre felt extremely disappointed.
The trade in this Lofo City is underdeveloped, and he has not yet found a suitable product.
I couldn't find suitable products, the prices of cotton and sugar were too low, and I occupied too many positions.
If freight is included, there is no profit at all when shipping from Europe to Dahua Dynasty, and it is very likely that you will lose money.
The United Kingdom can only learn from the Kingdom of Spain and trade with precious metals. This is the safest way.
After Viscount Andre became familiar with the translator Lu Ping'an, he also learned some news through newspapers, but he couldn't understand much of the news.
He made some insinuations and asked translator Lu Ping'an to learn about recent events in the Great China Dynasty.
Especially the wars between the Great China Dynasty and the Dutch, Portuguese, and Spanish.
In order to gain the trust of these people, Lu Pingan did not involve confidentiality in these issues.
He carefully introduced to Viscount Andre these battles and the information published by the state in newspapers.
Viscount Andre knew about Dahua's foreign wars, and he was afraid of Dahua's military power.
It can be said that the Dutch and Portuguese were unprepared and were defeated by the Chinese navy within a few days. This is understandable.
The Spaniards had long been prepared. In the recent war, Luzon Island was captured by the Chinese navy within three days.
Viscount Andre knew the strength of the Spanish navy very well.
The navy of the United Kingdom would have to pay a huge price if it wanted to defeat the Armada of the Kingdom of Spain.
Even if he is a naval officer sent to the colonies by the Armada, his military quality will not be too low.
It was destroyed within three days, with no ability to resist.
This incident shows from the side that the Great China Navy has a huge gap in combat power with the Spanish Navy.
Viscount Andre thought of the naval warships of the Great China Dynasty he had seen at sea a few days ago.
He did not really see the terrifying scene of the Dahua Dynasty Navy warships opening fire, but he saw the warships that were full of oppression.
With so many artillery guns installed on the sides of the warships, you can imagine the strength of these warships.
The news that Viscount Andrei had been waiting for has finally come to fruition.
The Great China Dynasty allows warships from the United Kingdom to enter the Strait of Malacca, but they must be escorted by the Great China Navy.
They can also go to Danmasi Port to trade, and they only need to pay customs duties.
Viscount Andre agreed to this request.
The fleet replenished a lot of fruits and vegetables in Love City. Viscount Andre spent a lot of money to hire translator Lu Ping'an to follow them.
He thought that the translator was very knowledgeable and had a good ability to teach him Chinese. If he changed to another Chinese teacher, he would have to learn from scratch.
Everyone, please go and try it soon.]
Lu Pingan was even more delighted and immediately agreed to the request.
He was wondering why he should continue to stay in the United Kingdom Mission.
Viscount Andre took a ship eastward to Danmaxi, an important city in Southeast Asia. He first traded the goods it carried and obtained first-hand information.
He stood on the deck and asked in half-baked Chinese: "Mr. Lu, your first big city to the outside world is called Lefo City.
Is this because all the people of the Great China Dynasty believe in Buddha?"
Viscount Andre was very worried about the religious issues of the Great China Dynasty.
European countries have been fighting wars for decades because of religious issues, and they have not stopped yet.
Relations between European countries and the Ottoman Turkish Empire were also very bad because of religious issues.
Lu Ping'an smiled and explained: "Lefo City has nothing to do with Buddhism. It is to commemorate the fallen General Zhao Lefo.
At the place where he died, a large city was built named after him.”
Lu Ping'an thought of General Zhao Lefu of the Ninth Army, who led troops all the way to expel the Portuguese and eliminate the indigenous tribes.
No enemy can resist General Zhao Lefu's offensive.
He made great contributions to the Chinese dynasty's complete occupation of Southeast Asia.
At the moment of victory, General Zhao Lefu was knocked down by a mosquito.
In order to commemorate the occasion, the imperial court allowed the request of Ninth Army Commander Lu Xiaoqiu to commemorate this place in the name of General Zhao Lefu.
When Viscount Andre heard the news, he relaxed and took the opportunity to ask Lu Ping'an about the religious beliefs of the Dahua Dynasty.
Lu Pingan smiled and said: "We are different from you Westerners. We believe in our ancestors and seek their blessings.
There are people in China who believe in gods and Buddhas, but this group is very small."
When Viscount Andre heard the news, he was extremely surprised. This kind of belief in ancestor worship could actually maintain this huge country.
But this situation is also good news. At least the two countries will not cause conflicts because of their beliefs.
The fleet is sailing in the Strait of Malacca, and there are more paddle steamers in the strait.
Viscount Andrei already knew that the unique paddle steamers of the Dahua Dynasty were driven by steam engines.
When he saw the steam engine for the first time, he found it incredible that a small machine could produce such a large amount of energy.
Viscount Andrei was able to predict the effects of the steam engine with his poor knowledge of natural sciences.
Fortunately, these paddle steamers have huge weaknesses and cannot become warships.
If these ships that ignore the wind direction really optimize their weaknesses and build them into warships, all sail battleships from other countries will be eliminated.
Viscount Andre's fleet arrived at Danmasixi City.
He finally saw the prosperity of the largest city in Nanyang.
A large number of cargo ships are queuing up outside the port, and the port's guiding ships lead the cargo ships into the port in an orderly manner.
This is only a cargo terminal, and there is a passenger terminal next to it specifically for passenger ships to dock.
Viscount Andrei was waiting at sea for the ship to enter the port.
There are many ships outside Danmaxi Port, but it is very orderly and the ships enter the port very quickly.
According to Viscount Andre's plan, he sold most of the goods he carried in Danmasixi City.
The fleet only left tributes, and all the vacant positions were used to purchase the specialties of the Great China Dynasty.
During this period of time, he had learned about the value of these commodities in various parts of the Dahua Dynasty through newspapers.
What is regrettable is that the goods prepared by the United Kingdom are not of high value in China.
After Andre paid the tax in the port, he went to Danmaxi City, preparing to observe the most important city of the Great China Dynasty in Southeast Asia.
When he walked into this well-organized city, his first impression was that it was clean.
There are also many animals pulling carts on the streets of this city.
There is no peculiar smell in the city. All coachmen carry excrement bags and animals do not defecate in the streets.
There are many public toilets on both sides of the road, so pedestrians will not relieve themselves on the road.
This kind of situation cannot be seen in any city in Europe.
It was the first time that Viscount Andrei walked in a city without any peculiar smell, and he felt particularly comfortable.
The biggest feeling that Danmaxixicheng gave him was that there were so many rules here.
Pedestrians and carriages must keep to the right.
There are also patrol officers at the intersection responsible for directing traffic.
They held whips and stared at any pedestrian or vehicle. Anyone who dared to violate the rules would be whipped in public on the street.
Everyone in the city follows the rules, and this situation is terrible.
With a little training, these people can become an army if they pick up muskets.
Viscount Andre believes that the military disciplines of many European countries are not as strong as those of the citizens.
He once again had a clear feeling about the danger of the Dahua Dynasty.
Viscount Andre constantly observes the needs of the Great China Dynasty.
He found that except for low-value commodities such as cotton and sugar, many commodities in the United Kingdom could not be sold at a high price here in the Great China Dynasty.
Because the products here are extremely rich and the prices are very cheap.
Viscount Andre was afraid that his observation was not accurate, so he asked Lu Ping'an: "Mr. Lu, what kind of goods do you think we can sell from afar to earn more value."
Lu Ping'an carefully recalled the economics course in primary school, and he said: "Of course it is to transport goods that are in short supply here.
I saw Lord Viscount's goods. These are not goods that are in short supply in our country, and they certainly cannot be sold at a suitable price.
Things like cotton and sugar are in great demand and prices are very stable.
However, the cost of producing these goods is relatively fixed. Even if the cost is lower in your country, the cost of shipping will offset the cost of production.
It's really difficult to make money with these goods.
What kind of goods are lacking in Dahua? This needs to be observed by the Viscount himself.
If I had this insight, I would not be a translator, but become a big businessman."
Viscount Andre nodded and continued to observe in Danmasixicheng.
He saw many Western businessmen hanged outside the Dali Temple in front of him, and citizens around him kept applauding.
Viscount Andre's expression changed drastically. Could it be that the Great China Dynasty is very hostile to Western teenagers?
When Lu Ping'an saw this situation, he took the initiative to explain: "These Western businessmen are smuggling contraband, large amounts of cigarettes.
According to the laws of our country, anyone who possesses or trades more than one tael of cigarettes will be sentenced to death."
Viscount Andrei learned more about the smoke item.
He discovered that many sailors smoked cigarettes in the United Kingdom. Unexpectedly, this item was listed as contraband by the Chinese Dynasty.
Viscount Andrei recorded it in detail in his notes to prevent domestic merchants from bringing such items.
He continued to visit Danmaxi City when he suddenly saw several Western merchants carrying goods that were being fought over by Dahua merchants. The scene was surrounded by merchants buying goods.
When Viscount Andre saw this, he immediately stepped forward to take a look. Is this the product he has been looking for?