Emperor Hongzhi stayed on the treasure island of Ryukyu for a few days, and then took a boat directly to Nanyang Crescent City.
Crescent City was originally the capital of the Luzon Kingdom. Later, the Luzon Kingdom was attacked by an army led by Du Mingen because of the murder of the people of the Ming Dynasty. The country was almost destroyed. The entire Northern Luzon Islands belonged to the Ming Dynasty and became the Nanyang of the Ming Dynasty.
Province, only a small part of Southern Luzon still belonged to Luzon, and became the current Luzon state of the Ming Dynasty.
The original capital also became today's Crescent City, the largest city in the entire Nanyang region.
On the beach of Crescent City, Emperor Hongzhi and Liu Jin, like the people here, were wearing shorts, holding coconuts in their hands, drinking coconut juice, and leisurely watching the young Ming Dynasty surfing here in Crescent Bay.
"It's really hot here in Nanyang. Winter is about to begin. It's as hot as summer here. The newspapers really didn't lie. The lower the dimension, the hotter the climate."
Emperor Hongzhi wiped the sweat from his forehead. He was used to the cool climate in the capital, but when he came to Nanyang, he was really not used to it.
It's almost winter, and it's still so hot here.
"Your Majesty, this is a tropical area. It is so hot all year round. There is no distinction between spring, summer, autumn and winter, so it is particularly suitable for the development of agriculture."
"The rice from Nanyang, Jiaozhi, Xianglin, and Siam is very famous in our Ming Dynasty. Because the light and heat here are abundant and the rainfall is abundant, rice can be grown here. It can be grown three times a year, and even in two years.
In the seventh season, rice is planted more frequently, with high yield and good quality.”
"Now this is the most important rice-producing area of Ming Dynasty, and the rice grown is exported to all over the world."
Liu Jin also wiped the sweat from his forehead and said: "In addition to rice cultivation, the sucrose here is second only to Ryukyu. There are also many vegetable cultivations. Fruits are the most produced in Ming Dynasty. The durian here is
, mangosteen, coconut and other fruits, your majesty must try them, they taste very good."
"Really!"
Emperor Hongzhi smiled and nodded, then thought for a while and said: "I heard that there is the largest slave market in the Ming Dynasty in Nanyang. I would like to visit the slave market here and understand the situation of the slaves here."
"Your Majesty, Crescent City in Nanyang does have the largest slave market in the Ming Dynasty. Slaves from all over the world can be purchased here."
"The number of slaves owned by the entire Southeast Asian provinces has exceeded 10 million, and plantations of all sizes are basically supported by slaves."
Liu Jin nodded solemnly and said, in the past, most of the slaves in the world came to Nanyang. Now, the demand for slaves in various colonies and vassals of the Ming Dynasty is also increasing, and Nanyang is beginning to be a little saturated.
.
"Let's go to the slave market."
Emperor Hongzhi immediately became interested. When he saw the coconut in his hand, he put it in the hand of the little eunuch beside him, and walked towards the slave market.
The slave market of Crescent City is located near Crescent Harbor, mainly to facilitate the distribution of slaves.
Ship after ship of slaves were transported here, sold here to plantation owners or distributors, and then transported by ship to plantations across Southeast Asia.
When Emperor Hongzhi and Liu Jin came to the slave market, the place was already crowded with people. Shiploads of slaves were driven off the ship by slave traders, and then they found an open space and started auctioning them off.
"European white slaves, European white slaves, top quality goods. Take a look. The skin is like mutton-fat jade, and the body is tall, with big breasts and a big butt. If you buy it back, you can work and warm the bed." baby."
A slave trader stripped off the clothes of a group of European female slaves and shouted loudly with a tin trumpet. This scene immediately attracted a large number of people to come and watch, and everyone looked at these female slaves with bright eyes.
"Not much to say~"
"The auction starts now~"
"This slave girl is only 16 years old, but she is still in perfect shape. As you can see, she is very well developed."
"The starting price now is 30 taels of silver. The one with the highest price will get it."
"30 taels~"
"32 taels~"
"35 taels~"
"40 taels~"
"...."
Along with the sounds of bids, the slave owner shouted excitedly.
"60 taels once, 60 taels twice, 60 taels two or three times. Congratulations to this master for successfully buying this slave. Please pay the money and go through the relevant procedures."
The slave trader said to an old man in his fifties. Everyone looked at the old man and couldn't help but start cheering.
"Old Wangtou, can you do it?"
"Yes, you are over fifty years old and you still come here every now and then to buy slave girls. Aren't you wasting resources?"
"That's right. What a pity such a little girl is in your hands."
"Bah~"
"Can I do it? The one I bought didn't help my old Wang family. I have dozens of sons now, and you actually say that I can't do it?"
"But you, Sun Dwarf, have probably bought more than a dozen female slaves over and over again, and I haven't seen you lay an egg. Are you really not good at it?"
Hearing the words of the people around him, Lao Wangtou's beard was so angry that he even said that he couldn't do it. He was really angry. If he couldn't do it, would I come here every now and then to buy a female slave?
"You can't do it. I don't want to give birth to children who don't look like me. Look at the sons you gave birth to. They are all blond and blue-eyed, and some of them look like shit. From now on, getting a wife will be a problem. I guess I can only I bought a female slave to be your son’s wife.”
After hearing what Lao Wangtou said, Sun Aizi immediately became angry and said quickly.
"And~"
"It doesn't look like what's wrong? It doesn't look like you are my son and I am from Ming Dynasty. I have a lot of money. Are you still worried about not being able to find a wife for my son?"
Lao Wang said without batting an eyelid.
As one of the earliest immigrants to Southeast Asia, he was a sailor when he was young. He traveled all over the world and accumulated a huge family fortune. Now he owns several large plantations and has thousands of slaves under his command. He lives a small life. It's very comfortable.
"Haha~"
"Come on, come on, keep on, keep on~"
"This auction is for a group of sisters. Look at them, they look almost exactly the same. They are beautiful. They have a good figure and are tall. They come from the Alps."
"Auction together, starting price is 60 taels of silver~"
The slave traders did not waste any time and continued to auction off their slaves.
Nowadays, the most popular thing for sale here in Nanyang is female slaves. When white slaves from Europe are shipped here, the price difference is at least double when they are resold. When you encounter good goods, you can make even more.
It is not easy to sell male slaves here, and it is also troublesome, because the male slaves have to be castrated, which is a waste of time and can also lead to the death of some male slaves.
Generally speaking, male slaves are now mostly sold to major colonies and vassal states. These places have a large demand for labor and do not require castration.
"Male slave now, male slave now!"
"The best Slavic male slaves. They are strong and as strong as cattle. They have all been castrated and well trained. They are very obedient and conscientious. They are definitely the best slaves in the plantation."
At another slave trader's place, strong male slaves stood neatly, and the slave owners kept shouting and shouting, attracting a large number of plantation owners who came to buy slaves.
"Nigger, nigger~"
"A black slave from Africa."
"The price is cheap. It only costs 30 taels of silver each. You can't suffer a loss or be cheated when you buy it. You can still work after buying it back."
In a slave trader's place, a group of dark slaves gathered together, looking at everything unfamiliar in front of them with curious eyes.
The slave owner shouted with a tin trumpet.
However, there were very few people who came to buy slaves.
People in the Ming Dynasty regard white as beauty, and they like white slaves but hate black slaves. They think the black ones are scary and unsightly. People who bought black slaves also gradually developed. These black slaves are very lazy, lazy to eat, lazy to cook, and lazy to eat.
Very well, they will still do it carefully for you to see when they are around. Once the slave owner leaves, these black slaves will immediately sit down and rest.
In this regard, the white slaves are relatively better. If given some intensity, these white slaves are still very diligent in doing things, and the white slaves are also smarter. They can master many things if they are taught casually.
But black slaves were so desperate that they couldn't be taught no matter how hard they were taught. They could only do some manual labor and menial work, which was of little use.
This also resulted in the price of black slaves on the market being always very low. Even if it was low, no one would want it.
Generally slaves can be sold for forty or fifty taels of silver, but black soil can usually be purchased for 30 taels of silver.
Emperor Hongzhi looked at the slave market in front of him with great interest. The entire slave market was very large, with many merchants selling slaves, and even more people came to buy slaves.
A large number of plantation owners would come here to take a look and buy some slaves when they had nothing to do.
Crescent City is the largest city in the Nanyang region, attracting a large number of merchants, firms, and the like. Many firms will come here to buy some slaves and then train these slaves to become porters, clerks, etc. in their own firms.
It is very expensive to hire a Ming Dynasty person to do work. For dozens of taels of silver a year, no one may be willing to do it for you, so buying slaves to be porters, porters, etc. is actually a very cost-effective thing.
There is no need to give money, only food. These slaves can still do things, and even work harder than the Ming people. After all, if they can enter a business, it is always better than entering a plantation.
These have contributed to the prosperity of the entire slave market. A large number of slaves from all over Europe, the Middle East, and Africa were sold here, and eventually flowed to various parts of Southeast Asia, becoming slaves in plantations, or clerks, porters, etc. in trading firms.
Or she became a concubine or maid of the Ming Dynasty.
