Crescent City (renamed from Manila) in Nanyang Province during the Ming Dynasty, as the first auxiliary of Nanyang Province and the earliest land acquired by the Ming Dynasty in Nanyang, Crescent City has already become the largest city in the entire Nanyang region after years of development.
The population has reached nearly one million.
Although it was already the twelfth lunar month of winter, while the cold wind was howling and snowflakes were falling in the capital of the Ming Dynasty, it was still a scorching summer here in Crescent City.
Here, the bay is like a crescent moon, with blue sky and white clouds, blue water, and beautiful beaches with soft west sand. A large number of people gather here to play.
On the beach, there are children happily playing football, while adults are sitting on chairs here and there, drinking coconut juice leisurely, looking at the lively beach in front of them, and enjoying the warm sunshine.
"The winter in Nanyang is still comfortable. If it is snowing heavily and freezing cold here in Beijing and Tianjin, where can I surf and swim in the sea so leisurely?"
Deng Bing sat on the chair, watching his little grandson pile sand on the beach, and then feeling the warmth of the sun, he couldn't help but sigh.
He was from Tianjin, and his son was one of the first sailors to go to sea. Later he settled down here in Nanyang. He had a large plantation of tens of thousands of acres here and bought many slaves specifically to grow sugar cane.
In addition, there are several large-scale ships that often go to the West and Africa. They don’t like to live the life of landlords and wealthy people here in Nanyang, but like to wander around on the sea. Therefore, Deng Bing is responsible for the plantation at home.
reason.
"Isn't that right~"
"Didn't I just go back to my hometown in Tianjin some time ago? The cold was really unbearable. I came back within a few days. Nanyang is better. It's warm. Not to mention how comfortable it is in winter."
"If this were to be in Tianjin, in the middle of winter, everyone would be dressed like rice dumplings. It would be difficult to move around, and it would be inconvenient to take a bath. We are better off in Nanyang."
Next to Deng Bing, an old man of about the same age, Yao Butcher, also nodded and said.
Butcher Yao and Deng Bing were also fellow villagers. They were both from Tianjin, not too far apart. Butcher Yao and Deng Bing’s son were both the first sailors to go to sea.
It’s almost the same now. There are large plantations here, there are hundreds of slaves in the family, and there are also own ships, trading houses, etc. It can be said that we are the first to enjoy this era.
Those are the people who got the bonus.
And their backgrounds are all ordinary people, like Yao Butcher, you can tell by their name. In the past, he was a pig butcher and made a living by killing pigs, but now he is living the life of a wealthy landlord.
Every day I just stroll around my family's plantation, take my grandchildren and granddaughters to the beach to play, and chat with my fellow villagers. Not to mention how cool my life is.
"Haha, isn't it? It's better for us in Nanyang. Tianjin is too cold. It's too cold. I don't plan to go back in winter. I'll wait until summer to go back and have a look."
"This is Tianjin. If you don't go back for a year, you won't even be able to find your way there. The changes have been too great."
Shen Laosan on the side also nodded. His family's situation is similar to that of Deng Bing and Yao Butcher, and those who immigrated to Nanyang are basically the same.
"Haha, I remember when we first started, you were unwilling to come to Nanyang. You even said that a golden nest and a silver nest are not as good as a doghouse at home, and you will die in your hometown in Tianjin."
"Now that Nanyang is so good, we are reluctant to leave."
When Deng Bing heard the words of his two old friends, he immediately laughed.
He remembered clearly that when they said they would immigrate to Tianjin, Yao Tufu and Shen Laosan scolded their sons severely, saying that their sons were unfilial and that it was difficult to leave their homeland and that overseas was a barbaric place.
Earth, where is the Ming Dynasty?
It's better now. Everyone has become accustomed to the life here in Nanyang and likes it here. On the contrary, they dislike the cold here in their hometown.
"Haha, Tianjin is actually not bad. Tianjin is very prosperous now. There are high-rise buildings everywhere."
"But I still like Nanyang, especially spending the winter here. It's really comfortable. In the past, my bones were very sore in winter, but here in Nanyang I don't feel any pain at all."
Butcher Yao also laughed.
The profession of butcher requires you to get up early, which is fine in summer, but very uncomfortable in winter. Over the years, you will basically have wind chill, rheumatism and the like.
"This year's sugarcane is really cheap. I'm missing a lot of money."
Shen Laosan smiled, and then thought about the plantation.
A few old men manage the plantation, mainly growing sugar cane. The price of sugar cane is low, so the income of the plantation is naturally low.
Because their plantations are very large, the price of sugar cane is reduced by 10%, which means they will lose a lot of money a year.
"Isn't that right? The price of sugar cane is getting lower every year. I'm even thinking about whether to plant sugar cane next year."
Deng Bing also shook his head and said.
"There is no way. There are too many people growing sugar cane now. At the beginning, there were not many people immigrating to Nanyang. At that time, the price of sugar was also high and the market demand was also very large. Therefore, the price of sugar cane was still
Very good."
"But it's different now. There are plantations all over Nanyang, and they are still growing sugar cane. The price of sugar is also falling again and again. The price of sugar cane is getting worse every year. In the past, a truck of sugar cane could
We bought two taels of silver, but now we can't even sell for one tael of silver. If this continues, everyone will be in trouble."
Butcher Yao sighed and said.
Nanyang developed very rapidly. A large number of people immigrated to Nanyang. In addition, the upper-class rulers of the Ming Dynasty also opened a large number of plantations in Nanyang, which had a huge impact on the entire market.
Nanyang's cane sugar production is soaring year by year, but the price is constantly falling. Even now, Europe, the Middle East, the Ottoman Empire, etc. have a very large demand for sugar, but they still cannot withstand the huge supply brought by the rapid development of the plantation economy.
The price drop is also inevitable.
"I heard that large plantations are now planting rubber trees on a large scale. Do you think we should follow suit?"
Shen Laosan thought for a while and said.
"It's too late~"
"It's too late to plant rubber trees now."
"As early as a few years ago, I heard people say that Nanyang Planters planted rubber trees in many places. At that time, I didn't understand why they planted rubber trees instead of planting such good sugar cane."
"You must know that the price of sugar cane was quite good at that time. A large plantation could easily earn tens of thousands of taels of silver in a year."
"As for things like rubber trees, I heard that it would take seven or eight years to grow up and be able to tap rubber. I thought it was very uneconomical. It would only take these seven or eight years to generate income. I didn't know what would happen.
"
"Who knew that the price of rubber has skyrocketed now? A barrel of rubber costs as much as several hundred taels of silver. The supply is still in short supply. Even if you have money, you may not have a place to buy it."
When Deng Bing heard this, he immediately showed an expression of regret.
"Alas~"
"If we had planted hundreds of acres of rubber trees back then, we would have been able to tap rubber in a year or two, and we would have made a lot of money."
"Nowadays, a rubber sapling costs more than ten taels of silver. Ordinary people like us cannot afford it at all. Only the big business houses and large plantations can afford it."
"Ten taels of silver per seedling?"
"Why don't they rob the bank?"
When Shen Laosan heard this, he almost jumped up and said.
"You are not robbing a bank. It is more profitable than robbing a bank. Who said that the only ones with rubber saplings now are the Nanyang Planting Company? This is Liu Gong's industry."
Deng Bing smiled and said: "The reason why the price of rubber has skyrocketed is mainly because of the emergence of bicycles. The tires on these bicycles are made of rubber. Now bicycles are very popular. A Mercedes-Benz bicycle costs more than 20 yuan to appear.
Two taels of silver, but here in Nanyang, a bicycle actually costs more than fifty taels of silver."
"I have more than fifty taels of silver. Wouldn't it be better to use it to buy food and drink? You can buy a good horse and then a four-wheeled carriage."
"These four-wheeled carriages are now starting to use rubber tires. After using rubber tires, they can go faster and not be so bumpy."
"In my opinion, the price of rubber will continue to rise. It's not too late to plant rubber trees now. Although saplings are a bit expensive, I still plan to plant some."
"There is really nothing left to grow in sugar cane. The price is too low. If this continues, we will really have to drink from the northwest."
After thinking about it for a while, Shen Laosan still decided to plant some rubber.
"Shen Laosan, your family has really become rich in these years. You actually said that these seedlings costing more than ten taels of silver are not expensive. If you want me, I will never spend so much money to buy rubber saplings, let alone
What's more, it will take seven or eight years before we can tap rubber."
When Butcher Yao heard this, he immediately shook his head.
They have been poor all their lives, and they are living the life they are living now at this old age. The money in their hands is very tight, and they are not willing to spend it at all.
I would not be willing to part with these ten taels of silver to buy a rubber sapling.
"There are returns only if there is investment~"
"The price of rubber will definitely continue to rise, because it has so many uses, including bicycle tires, carriage tires, and steam engine sealing rings. I heard that rubber is used in all of them."
"Moreover, after the rubber tree is planted, it does not require much care. Once the tree is mature, it can be tapped every year. It is actually very cost-effective."
Shen Laosan thought for a while and said.
"If you want to plant it, you can plant it. I'm not willing to do it anyway. These seedlings are too expensive~"
"Yeah, yeah, I think it's too expensive too."
"If you have money, you might as well buy more ships and go to Europe to do business."
