Guedes is jealous of the huge profits on the route from the Indian Ocean to Europe. Although he knows that Portugal blocks and intercepts merchant ships from other countries, who is Guedes?
A few years ago he was a pirate leader!
Are you afraid of being intercepted by the Portuguese? Are you kidding me? If they really encounter each other, they will just fight. By then, we still don’t know who is robbing whom!
So after returning to Shanghai, he set up the raw silk factory and left it to the subordinates of the company to handle. While he himself led two merchant ships of his own trading company and started heading south loaded with various goods.
The goods above are not intended to be sold directly to Europe, but are intended to be transported to Guangzhou. He has already started to purchase the silk, porcelain and other goods that are intended to be sold to Europe, and they are already in Guangzhou.
There are several warehouses stocked!
But if the ship doesn't run out, you have to go back to Guangzhou first anyway. If you take the goods back to Guangzhou, you can make a little profit!
After arriving in Guangzhou, he was too lazy to worry about it. He directly sold the goods to those merchants in the Guangzhou business district, and then drove all four merchant ships in his trading company into the shipyard's dock for repairs.
He was planning a trip to Europe, a trip of tens of thousands of miles. If the condition of the ship was not good enough, it would sink within minutes of setting sail!
When the ship was being renovated, he personally went to the Sailors' Union to recruit sailors!
The price he offered was not low. An ordinary sailor could earn 10 taels of silver a month, and a gunner could earn 20 taels of silver a month. He also promised that after the trade ended, he would pay generous bonuses. How much was the bonus? Once
Give out one hundred taels of silver for sex!
After the price was announced, countless sailors flocked to it. The price was very high. You know, the salary of an ordinary worker in these days was less than one tael of silver a month. The salary of an ordinary soldier in the Tang Army was less than one tael of silver a month.
The monthly salary is only a little over one tael of silver.
An ordinary sailor earns ten taels of silver a month, and after completing this trade, he will receive a bonus of more than one hundred taels of silver when he returns!
Even if it costs their lives, they have to earn this money!
Therefore, we clearly know that traveling to Europe is very risky, almost a narrow escape, but it cannot stop the enthusiasm of those sailors. Sailors these days basically gamble with their lives, and the risks are much greater than being a soldier.
After going to sea, they will encounter wind and waves, food and fresh water crises, and scurvy. They will encounter pirates or temporary pirates who work as part-time pirates from other countries' warships. Well, this includes temporary part-time pirates from other maritime merchants.
, you will encounter various indigenous people.
The whole process was a narrow escape, but as long as they could reach their destination, the cargo on the ship would be enough to make them rich overnight!
Even an ordinary sailor can earn hundreds of taels of silver from this trip. For ordinary people, this amount of money has already made them rich overnight.
The price offered by Gerdes was not low, and there were a lot of people who came to apply, and Gerdes was also very selective. His trading company already had a lot of sailors, but many of them were unwilling to go.
The most European routes are Nanyang and domestic routes, so there is a shortage of manpower.
He owns four merchant ships, all of which are large ocean-going ships. One is smaller, with a tonnage of only more than 400 tons, and the two larger ships are more than 500 tons. These three ships are all typical traditional Galen ships.
There is a new merchant ship Linna that he ordered from Hong Kong Ding Shing Shipyard, with a huge displacement of 680 tons.
This kind of merchant ship is a standard ocean-going merchant ship type 680 standard freighter launched by the Dingsheng Shipyard under the royal family. It has also been authorized to Guangzhou Shipyard and other state-owned enterprise shipyards, becoming the current Tang Dynasty
Currently, the most advanced and most cost-effective standard merchant ships that can be built by oneself, the Datang Western Company under the imperial family owns more than ten of these standard merchant ships.
Because they are all built according to unified standards, although the ships are relatively large and have relatively high technical content, the actual construction cost is not much higher than that of other merchant ships. If the hull is equipped with naval guns, sails and other accessories, a six-eighth
The price of a zero-standard merchant ship is about fifty thousand taels of silver, which is a bit expensive, but not too expensive.
The Linna cost Gerdes a lot of working capital, but he thought it was worth it. If it weren't for various restrictions, he would have sold the other three ships and then purchased a few more of this kind.
Type 680 merchant ship!
The other three Galen ships, although the cargo per unit tonnage is larger than that of the 680 type merchant ship, the Galen ships not only carry more cargo, but also have high speed, flexible steering, headwind form, and seaworthiness in complex sea conditions.
Basically, they are worse than this 680-type merchant ship.
Although the difference is not much, the gap is huge when taken together. Not to mention that the Type 680 merchant ship was designed with reference to the warships of the Tang Dynasty Navy. Its gun firepower and protective performance are better than those of ordinary merchant ships.
powerful.
But now when doing sea trade, they are all armed merchant ships. The risks outside are too great. There are many pirates. If you encounter warships from other countries, you will end up in a hurry.
And another situation is that those maritime merchants are all good citizens in the port, and they are well-behaved in the coastal waters patrolled by warships. But when they encounter each other in remote seas, these armed merchant ships can become
It is normal for pirates to rob each other.
If a merchant ship goes to sea without a few cannons, it will definitely be robbed as a fat sheep!
And the person who robbed you was probably not a pirate, but another maritime trader!
Gerdes is naturally one of them. In the past few years, while running boats, he has also robbed several times in the high seas!
For the current maritime trade environment, the 680-type merchant ship has great advantages. Except for the smaller loading capacity than the Galen ship, it is a complete victory in other aspects!
Moreover, Gerdes is also planning to replace the artillery in Malacca after going to sea this time. The naval guns that came with the purchase of the ship are all small and medium-caliber artillery. The largest one is only nine pounds, not fourteen pounds at all.
The artillery above.
The shipyard's reputation is that it is just defensive firepower and does not require a large caliber. However, in Gerdes' view, the bigger the better for naval guns. Caliber is justice and range is truth!
So he planned to go to Malacca to buy another batch of large-caliber artillery to replace them.
He really didn't have the guts to go on a European route without rows of naval guns weighing more than 14 pounds on both sides of the ship!
Gerdes was actively preparing to take a European route. The news reached Datang Western Company for some reason, and then someone came to the door, saying that they also wanted to take a European route and asked if they could
Come along.
He also said that if Gerdes is willing to take the merchant ships of Datang Western Company to set out together, they are willing to take the lead in taking on combat missions when encountering various dangers, especially pirates, and at the same time, the profits from sea trade will be shared with
Gerdes twenty percent.
As soon as he heard this, Gerdes was happy. This was a good thing. He just took them on the road. If he encountered pirates, they would fight them, and they would give him 20% of the profits afterwards. This kind of
You can't find it normally.
And he is not worried about the reputation of Datang Western Company. Anyone who travels in Nanyang knows that in the Tang Dynasty, anyone who dared to add the word "Datang" to the prefix of the company was a royal property!
Needless to say, the reputation of the royal family’s industry is highly leveraged!
I agreed on the spot and agreed to set off together when we were ready!
But when Gerdes finished preparing and officially set off, he looked at the fleet of Datang Western Company with a dull look on his face: Is this your merchant ship? I know the other two are 680 merchant ships, but the other two
, are you sure this is not a naval battleship?
Ying Zihua, the head of the European fleet of Datang Western Company on the side, said: "This ship is Caiyuan, and the other one is Guangjin, which symbolizes Guangjin. This is a good name. I picked it myself."
Also make money...
He really thinks that Gerdes has little experience. These are obviously two cruisers from the Tang Dynasty Navy. He even knows the ship type. They are Lianzhou-class third-class cruisers!
Damn it, if anyone dares to say that this warship with no cargo space is a merchant ship, Gerdes will dare to twist his head off and use it as a urinal!
Ying Zihua on the side continued to say: "The Fugui and Guangjin were built by our Western Company at a huge cost, and their firepower is even more powerful than the cruisers in the Navy. Moreover, after being loaded with standard ammunition and supplies,
In addition, it can also load twenty tons of cargo! I can make money while escorting the fleet, don’t you think this is great!”
"Twenty tons?" Gerdes was completely speechless. Damn, any merchant ship of this tonnage can carry hundreds of tons of cargo, okay?
After all, this is still a warship!
But in the magical country of the Tang Dynasty, where the Western Company was a royal property and had two cruisers as merchant ships, Gerdes had no idea other than saying that they were wealthy and powerful.
It's unbelievable that they said before that they could guarantee the safety along the way. With these two cruisers, oh, no, they are merchant ships with a lot of money. Ordinary pirates are no match at all.
At least, this time on the European route, I encountered pirates along the way. It is estimated that few pirates would have the courage to rob a fleet of eight ships, six of which were armed merchant ships and two of which were professional warships.
But he was worried that if he did this, what would the Portuguese think and would they send a naval fleet to intercept it?
Don't encounter the pirates by then, but encounter a warship to intercept you, in which case the gain will outweigh the loss.
After Gerdes told Ying Zihua his worries, Ying Zihua also showed a hint of embarrassment, and then said: "This may happen. Doesn't this require Captain Gerdes to come? You run."
Having been at sea for many years, you should know some safe routes, especially routes that can avoid the Portuguese blockade!"
Hearing this, Gerdes sighed, feelings, this is the reason why they came to find him!